Image capturing apparatus, information processing system, information processing apparatus, and polarized-image processing method

ABSTRACT

An image data generating block 72 of an image capturing apparatus 12 generates polarized images having two or more resolutions from luminance of polarization in two or more directions acquired by a luminance data acquiring block 70. A pixel value converting block 74 generates new image data with a predetermined parameter being a pixel value on the basis of the polarized luminance in two or more directions. A transmission image generating block 76 connects image data of two or more types on a predetermined pixel line basis and then crops the requested data, thereby stream-transferring the cropped data from a communication block 78. A target object recognizing block 80 of an information processing apparatus 10 recognizes the state of a target object by use of the transmitted data and an output data generating block 82 generates output data by use of the recognized state. A communication block 86 requests the image capturing apparatus 12 for the data including type, resolution, and region corresponding to the state of the target object.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a technology for executing informationprocessing in accordance with the movement of a target object.

BACKGROUND ART

A game is known in which a display image obtained by capturing such apart of the body as the head of a user with a video camera, extracting apredetermined area such as the eye, the mouth, or the hand, and theextracted predetermined part is replaced by another image (refer to PTL1, for example). Also, a user interface system is known in which amovement of a mouth or a hand captured with a video camera is receivedas a command for manipulating an application. The technologies such asmentioned above of capturing a real world and displaying a virtual worldthat responds to the movement of the captured real world and using thevirtual world for some information processing is used in wide fieldsfrom small-sized mobile terminals to amusement facilities regardless ofthe scales thereof.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature [PTL 1]

European Published Patent No. EP0999518

SUMMARY Technical Problems

The image analysis in which the position and attitude of a target objectfrom captured images easily involves a problem of the instability in theaccuracy of processing due to the external view, position, or imagecapturing environment of a target object. For example, in a generaltechnology in which feature points are used for the extraction ormatching of an image of a target object from a captured image thereof,the accuracy in processing is deteriorated due to the originallyinsufficient number of feature points of a target object or the smallapparent size thereof because of the distance from a camera. As therobustness in the processing accuracy is desired, it becomes necessaryto make finer the granularity of processing in space and time or make anecessary algorithm complex, thereby inviting the compression oftransfer band or the increase in processing load. The resultant latencyespecially presents a problem in the use of the camera as userinterface.

Therefore, the present invention addresses the above-identified andother problems and solves the addressed problems by providing atechnology that provides the acquisition of states of a target objectfrom captured images thereof with accuracy and efficiency.

Solution to Problems

In carrying out the invention and according to one aspect thereof, thereis provided an image capturing apparatus.

The image capturing apparatus includes an image data acquiring blockconfigured to acquire data of polarized images in a plurality ofdirections and generate data each expressed by a plurality ofresolutions, a pixel value converting block configured to acquire apredetermined parameter by use of a pixel value of the above-mentionedpolarized images and generate data that is a new pixel value, and acommunication block configured to send at least one of the generateddata to an information processing apparatus.

In carrying out the invention and according to another aspect thereof,there is provided an information processing system. The informationprocessing system includes an image capturing apparatus configured tocapture a polarized image of a target object; and an informationprocessing apparatus configured to acquire a state of a target object byuse of information acquired from a polarized image concerned and executeinformation processing based thereof. The above-mentioned imagecapturing apparatus includes an image data acquiring block configured toacquire data of polarized images in a plurality of directions andgenerate data each expressed by a plurality of resolutions, a pixelvalue converting block configured to acquire a predetermined parameterby use of a pixel value of the above-mentioned polarized images for eachof the above-mentioned plurality of resolutions and generate data thatis a new pixel value, and a communication block configured to send atleast one of the generated data to an information processing apparatus.The above-mentioned information processing apparatus includes a targetobject recognizing block configured to acquire a state of a targetobject by use of data sent from the above-mentioned image capturingapparatus and a communication block configured to specify a type inaccordance with an acquired state of a target object and a region on animage plane so as to execute a transmission request for data to theabove-mentioned image capturing apparatus.

In carrying out the invention and according to still another aspectthereof, there is provided an information processing apparatus. Theinformation processing apparatus includes a communication blockconfigured to acquire, from an image capturing apparatus for capturing apolarized image of a target object, requested one of data of data of apolarized image and data with a predetermined parameter acquired by useof a pixel value of a polarized image being a pixel value, a targetobject recognizing block configured to acquire a state of a targetobject by use of the acquired data, and an output data generating blockconfigured to generate output data by executing information processingon a basis of a state of the above-mentioned target object. Theabove-mentioned communication block specifies a type in accordance witha state of the above-mentioned target object and a region on an imageplane so as to execute a transmission request for data to theabove-mentioned image capturing apparatus.

In carrying out the invention and according to yet another aspectthereof, there is provided a polarized image processing method to beexecuted by an image capturing apparatus. The polarized image processingmethod includes the steps of acquiring data of polarized images in aplurality of directions by an image capturing device and to generatedata each expressed by a plurality of resolutions, acquiring apredetermined parameter by use of a pixel value of the above-mentionedpolarized images for each of the above-mentioned plurality ofresolutions and to generate data that is a new pixel value, and sendingat least one of the generated data to an information processingapparatus.

It should be noted that any combinations of above-mentioned componentsand the expressions of the present invention as converted between amethod, an apparatus, a system, a computer program, and a computerprogram recording medium are also valid as modes of the presentinvention.

Advantageous Effect of Invention

According to the present invention, a state of a target object can behighly accurately and efficiently acquired from a captured image.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configurational example of aninformation processing system according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configurational example of an imagecapturing device installed on an image capturing apparatus according tothe present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an internal circuit configuration of aninformation processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating functional blocks of the imagecapturing apparatus and the information processing apparatus accordingto the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating one example of processingfor acquiring states of a target object according to the presentembodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the imagecapturing apparatus according to the present embodiment in more detail.

FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically illustrating basic transitions of adata form in the image capturing apparatus and the informationprocessing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a timing chart indicative of a timing with which pixels apixel value of a polarized image of each resolution is inputted from apyramid filter block to a pixel value converting block according to thepresent embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically illustrating a synthesized imagegenerated by cyclically outputting data of images having two or moreresolutions through an output timing adjusting block according to thepresent embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically illustrating the change in the stateof data answering to a request from the information processing apparatusaccording to the present embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the pixel valueconverting block according to the present embodiment in more detail.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating another example of the configurationof the pixel value converting block according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a transmissiondata forming block in the pixel value converting block illustrated inFIG. 12 in more detail.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of vector quantizationexecuted by a quantizing block according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart indicative of a processing procedure for theimage capturing apparatus and the information processing apparatusaccording to the present embodiment to jointly analyze polarized imagesand output a resultant display image.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a variation of the configuration ofthe image capturing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of astructure of data to be stored in a register and a manner of processingto be accordingly executed by a cropping block according to the presentembodiment.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a manner in which the pixel valueconverting block outputs a data stream of a parameter specified by useof the data of an inputted polarized image.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating data to be sent in response to arequest from the information processing apparatus according to thepresent embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a diagram schematically illustrating a manner in which animage capturing environment is viewed sideways according to the presentembodiment.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart indicative of a processing procedure foroptimizing conversion rules in the image capturing apparatus by use of areference real object according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a diagram an example of further restricting the data to besent from the image capturing apparatus according to the presentembodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configurational example of aninformation processing system according to the present embodiment. Thisinformation processing system has an image capturing apparatus 12 forcapturing a target object 8 at a predetermined frame rate, aninformation processing apparatus 10 for executing information processingon the basis of the information obtained from a captured image, and adisplay apparatus 16 for outputting results of the informationprocessing.

The information processing system may further have an input apparatusthrough which a manipulation done by a user on the informationprocessing apparatus 10 is inputted. Still further, the informationprocessing apparatus 10 may be communicable with external apparatusessuch as a server through connection with a network such as the Internet.

The information processing apparatus 10, the image capturing apparatus12, and the display apparatus 16 may be interconnected with a cable orin a wireless connection such as wireless local area network (LAN). Itis also practicable to combine any two or more of the informationprocessing apparatus 10, the image capturing apparatus 12, and thedisplay apparatus 16 into a single unit of apparatus. For example, acamera or mobile terminal that has the above-mentioned apparatuses maybe realize the information processing system. Alternatively, the displayapparatus 16 may be in the form of a head-mounted display that is wornon the head of a user to display an image in front of the eyes of theuser and this head-mounted display may have the image capturingapparatus 12 so as to capture an image corresponding to theline-of-sight of the user. In any case, the external shapes of theinformation processing apparatus 10, the image capturing apparatus 12,and the display apparatus 16 are not restricted to those illustrated inthe figure.

In the system described above, the information processing apparatus 10sequentially acquires any one of the data of an image captured by theimage capturing apparatus 12 at a predetermined frame rate and thevarious types of data acquired from this image, thereby identifying theposition and attitude of the target object 8 in a real space on thebasis of the acquired data. If the shape of the target object 8 isvariable such as with an elastic body, this shape is also identified.Then, the information processing corresponding to the identified resultsis executed so as to generate a display image and audio data that areoutputted to the display apparatus 16. The contents of the informationprocessing to be executed in correspondence with a state of the targetobject 8 are not especially restricted and, therefore, the target object8 may be various.

For example, the target object 8 may be a game controller that the userholds and moves so as to execute manipulations on a game. In this case,an image indicative of a game world may vary in response to the movementof the controller and the controller can display an image replaced by avirtual object on a captured image with the user captured.Alternatively, in a vision field corresponding to the line-of-sight ofthe user wearing a head-mounted display, an image indicative of avirtual object interacting with a real object such as a hand of the usercan be depicted on this head-mounted display.

The information processing to be executed by use of the states of thetarget object 8 can be considered in various aspects, so that, in whatfollows, the processing operations from the image capturing by the imagecapturing apparatus 12 to the acquisition of the data related with theposition, attitude, and shapes of the target object 8 by the informationprocessing apparatus 10 will mainly be described with attention placedon techniques for efficiently and correctly realizing these processingoperations. In what follows, the position, attitude, and shape of atarget objects are generically referred to as “the states of targetobject”; however, this means that not all of these states are identifiedbut at least one of these states may only be identified as required. Forthis purpose, the image capturing apparatus 12 according to the presentembodiment at least captures a polarized image in a space to be capturedand, at the same time, generates the data of two or more types on thebasis of capture results, sending the generated data to the informationprocessing apparatus 10.

The information processing apparatus 10 identifies a state of the targetobject 8 by use of the sent data and then executes the informationprocessing that is the final purpose. It should be noted that the imagecapturing apparatus 12 may have a mechanism for capturing an image ofnatural light (non-polarized light) in addition to a mechanism forcapturing a polarized image.

Further, a stereo camera for capturing images of natural light or imagesof polarized light from the left and right viewpoints having a knowninterval may be arranged so as to identify the position of a targetobject in the three-dimensional space by use of principles oftriangulation. Such a configuration of the image capturing apparatus 12may be appropriately determined in accordance with the contents of theintended information processing and the contents of an image to bedisplayed; in what follows, however, especially the capturing ofpolarized images and the processing thereof will be described.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary configuration of an image capturing deviceinstalled on the image capturing apparatus 12. It should be noted thatthis diagram schematically illustrating a functional structure of thecross section of the device, omitting details structures of theinterlayer insulation film and the wiring of the device. An imagecapturing device 110 has a microlens layer 112, a wire-grid-typepolarizer layer 114, and a photo detection layer 118. The wire-grid-typepolarizer layer 114 has polarizers with two or more linear conductionmembers arrayed in stripes with intervals smaller than the wavelength ofincident light. When a light condensed through the microlens layer 112is put into the wire-grid-type polarizer layer 114, the polarizedcomponent in the direction parallel to the line of conductors isreflected, thereby transmitting only the vertical polarized component.

Detection of the transmitted polarized component by the photo detectionlayer 118 allows the acquisition of a polarized image. The photodetection layer 118 has a semiconductor device structure such as ageneral charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor or a complementarymetal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor. The wire-grid-typepolarizer layer 114 has an array of polarizers with the main-axis angledifferent from each other in unit of charge reading in the photodetection layer 118, namely, on a pixel basis, or in unit greater thanpixel. The right side of the diagram illustrates a polarizer array 120seen when the wire-grid-type polarizer layer 114 is viewed from top.

In this diagram, the hatched lines are indicative of conductors (orwires) making up a polarizer. It should be noted that the dotted-linerectangles each indicative of a region of a polarizer of the main-axisangle and the dotted lines themselves are not actually formed. In theillustrated example, the polarizers of four main-axis angles arearranged in 2-line, 2-column regions 122 a, 122 b, 122 c, and 122 d. Inthe diagram, the polarizers on the diagonal line are orthogonal in themain-axis angle each other and the adjacent polarizers have a differenceof 45 degrees therebetween. That is, four main-axis angle polarizers ofevery 45 degrees are arranged.

Each polarizer transmits the polarized component in the directiondiagonal to the direction of the wire. Consequently, in the photodetection layer 118 arranged below, the polarization information in thefour directions every 45 degrees can be obtained in the regionscorresponding to the four regions 122 a, 122 b, 122 c, and 122 d.Further arraying such polarizer arrays of four main-axis angles into thevertical and horizontal directions by the predetermined number andconnecting a peripheral circuit for controlling charge reading timingallows the realization an image sensor by which the polarizationinformation of four types is simultaneously obtained as two-dimensionaldata.

An image acquisition technology based on the wire-grid-type polarizer isdisclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-80065 and so on, forexample. However, the device structure of the image capturing apparatus12 according to the present embodiment is not restricted to theillustrated structure. For example, between the wire-grid-type polarizerlayer 114 and the photo detection layer 118, a color filter layerincluding filter arrays for transmitting red, green, and blue lights maybe arranged so as to acquire the polarization information by color inaccordance with the main-axis angle of the polarizer and a combinationof the colors in the wire-grid-type polarizer layer 114. Further, thepolarizer is not restricted to the wire grid type; namely, anypractically available types such as linear dichroic polarizer or thelike may be used. Alternatively, a structure in which a polarizing platewith the main-axis angle variable is arranged in front of a generalcamera may be used.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an internal circuit configuration ofthe information processing apparatus 10. The information processingapparatus 10 has a central processing unit (CPU) 23, a graphicsprocessing unit (GPU) 24, and a main memory 26. Each of these parts isconnected with each other via a bus 30. The bus 30 is further connectedto an input/output interface 28. The input/output interface is connectedto a communication block 32 made up of peripheral device interfaces suchas universal serial bus (USB) and Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394 or a wired or wireless LAN networkinterface, a storage block 34 made up of a hard disc drive or anonvolatile memory, an output block 36 for outputting data to thedisplay apparatus 16, an input block 38 through which data is inputtedfrom the image capturing apparatus 12 or an input apparatus notdepicted, and a recording media driving block 40 for driving removablerecording media such as a magnetic disc, a magneto-optical disc, or asemiconductor memory.

The CPU 23 controls the entirety of the information processing apparatus10 by executing an operating system stored in the storage block 34. Inaddition, the CPU 23 executes various programs loaded from the removablerecording media into the main memory 26 or downloaded via thecommunication block 32. The GPU 24 has a function of a geometry engineand a function of a rendering processor and executes drawing processingby following drawing commands from the CPU 23, storing the data of aresultant display image into a frame buffer not depicted. Then, the GPU24 converts the display image stored in the frame buffer into a videosignal and outputs the video signal to the output block 36. The mainmemory 26 is made up of a random access memory (RAM) and stores programsand data that are necessary for the execution of processing.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the functional block configurations ofthe image capturing apparatus 12 and the information processingapparatus 10. Each of the functional blocks illustrated in this diagramcan be realized by any one of the configurations of a CPU, a GPU, amicroprocessor, a computational circuit, an image capturing device, andmemories of various types in hardware; in software, each functionalblock can be realized by programs loaded from a recording medium into amemory so as to provide various functions such as computationalfunction, drawing function, and communication function. Therefore, it isunderstood by those skilled in the art that these functions can berealized in a variety forms by hardware alone, software alone orcombinations thereof and therefore are not restricted thereto.

The image capturing apparatus 12 has a luminance data acquiring block 70for acquiring luminance data by image capturing, an image datagenerating block 72 for generating data of a captured image having apredetermined resolution from the luminance data, a pixel valueconverting block 74 for converting a pixel value of a captured imageinto a predetermined parameter, a transmission image generating block 76for connecting data of two or more types into a transmission format, anda communication block 78 for receiving a request from the informationprocessing apparatus 10 so as to send this data.

The luminance data acquiring block 70 acquires the luminancedistribution of the polarized components in two or more directions bythe two-dimensional array of the image capturing device 110 illustratedin FIG. 2, for example. This luminance distribution is a so-called RAWimage of a polarized captured image. The image data generating block 72executes mosaic processing for interpolating polarized luminance valuesdiscretely obtained in each direction and, at the same time, generates apolarized image having a predetermined resolution by the reduction intwo or more steps.

The pixel value converting block 74 executes predetermined computationfor each pixel by use of a polarized image and generates a new imagewith the result of the computation used as a pixel value. To be morespecific, the pixel values of the polarized images in two or moredirections are summarized for each pixel at the same position so as tocompute, for each pixel, an intermediate parameter necessary foracquiring the normal line of a target object or a parameter indicativeof the normal line. The data to be newly generated data as describedabove may be different from a general “image” that is visuallymeaningful for some parameters, but can be handled in the same manner asa captured image as a two-dimensional map related with a pixel, so thatthis newly generated data may be hereafter referred to “image.” Specificparameter examples will be described later. It should be noted that thepixel value converting block 74 also has a route through which the pixelvalues of a polarized image generated by the image data generating block72 are outputted without change.

The transmission image generating block 76 integrates the data of two ormore types inputted from the pixel value converting block 74 and thenoutputs the data requested from the information processing apparatus 10.In the present embodiment, the generation of data of various types to beinternally executed by the image capturing apparatus 12 is localprocessing on a pixel basis or in unit of two or more neighbor pixels.Therefore, by streaming each processing operation, the data of two ormore types are inputted in the transmission image generating block 76 ina sequence of pixels. The transmission image generating block 76 firstconnect these pieces of data with each other into one data stream andthen reconnects only the extracted requested pieces of data so as toform a data stream as a final transmission form.

At this moment, by cyclically connecting the data of various types witheach other in unit of pixel line of a size considering the generationperiod of each type of data, the processing from image capturing to datatransmission can be executed at a high speed and, at the same time, theextraction of requested data and the distinction between the data in theinformation processing apparatus 10 are facilitated. The communicationblock 78 establishes communication with the information processingapparatus 10, accepts a request related with the type of necessary dataand the region on an image, and notifies the pixel value convertingblock 74 and the transmission image generating block 76 thereof.

Then, the data stream generated by the transmission image generatingblock 76 is sequentially packetized and the resultant packets are sentto the information processing apparatus 10. The communication block 78sends the packets to the information processing apparatus 10 inaccordance with a predetermined communication protocol such as USB1.0/2.0/3.0 or the like. The communication with the informationprocessing apparatus 10 may be executed not only in a wired manner butalso in a wireless manner such as wireless LAN communication like IEEE802.11a/b/g or infrared ray communication like infrared data association(IrDA).

The information processing apparatus 10 requests the image capturingapparatus 12 for data and accordingly has a communication block 86, adata storage block 84 for storing the acquired data, a target objectrecognizing block 80 for identifying the state of a target object by useof the received data, and an output data generating block 82 forgenerating data to be outputted on the basis of the state of a targetobject. The communication block 86, realized by the communication block32, the CPU 23 and so on illustrated in FIG. 3, acquires a data streamindicative of a polarized image and various parameters from the imagecapturing apparatus 12.

The data storage block 84, realized by the main memory 26, sequentiallystores the data acquired by the communication block 86. At this moment,the communication block 86 sorts the data of two or more types includedin the data stream so as to reconstruct individual images. Since therules of connecting the data of various types in a data stream aredetermined by the contents of each data request to the image capturingapparatus 12, the sorting processing can be executed on this request.

The target object recognizing block 80, realized by the CPU 23 and theGPU 24, identifies the state of a target object by use of the data ofvarious types stored in the data storage block 84. To be more specific,by directly referencing the data of a polarized image and using anintermediate parameter obtained in the image capturing apparatus 12, thetarget object recognizing block 80 acquires a normal line vector on thesurface of the target object, thereby identifying the position andattitude of the target object. At this moment, by adjusting the state ofthe three-dimensional model of the target object registered in advancein a virtual space such that the state is adapted to the distribution ofthe acquired normal line vector, for example, the target objectrecognizing block 80 can correctly identify the position and attitude ofthe actual target object.

Rather than executing the analysis based on a normal line vector, it ispracticable to execute matching between the image of the target objectin a polarized image and a template image so as to estimate the positionand attitude of the target image from the apparent size and shape. It isalso practicable to execute such practical target object recognitionprocessing as face detection, face recognition, hand recognition, orvisual tracking on a separately acquired natural-light image. If astereo camera is installed on the image capturing apparatus 12, a depthimage may be generated by use of a stereo image captured from left andright viewpoints, thereby obtaining a position in the real space of thetarget object.

The depth image is an image in which a distance from the image-capturedsurface of a subject is indicated as a pixel value in the captured imageand can be generated by the principles of triangulation on the basis ofthe parallax between the corresponding points in a stereo image.Appropriately combining these processing operations of two or more typesallows the precision and efficient identification of the state of atarget object. For example, by use of a depth image or face detectionresults, a region, in an image plane, in which the image of a targetobject is formed, is identified and a normal line vector may be obtainedonly for this region, thereby obtained the state of the target object indetail. Alternatively, by integrating the distribution of normal linevectors with a depth image, a more precise depth image may be generatedthat also is indicative of the irregularities on the surface of targetobject.

In accordance with the contents of the processing to be executed and thestate of a target object identified at that point of time, the targetobject recognizing block 80 determines the type of data to request fromthe image capturing apparatus 12, the resolution of the data, and theregion of image plane from which to request data. For example, at theinitial stage, an entire polarized image having low resolution isrequested and, after approximately identifying the region of the imageof the target object by use of the entire polarized image, the polarizedimage of only that region or an intermediate parameter is requested at ahigh resolution. The communication block 86 is notified of the contentsto request from time to time which are issued from the communicationblock 86 to the image capturing apparatus 12.

The output data generating block 82, realized by the CPU 23, the GPU 24,and the output block 36, executes predetermined information processingon the basis of the state of a target object identified by the targetobject recognizing block 80 so as to generate such data to be outputtedas a display image and audio. As described above, the contents of theinformation processing to be executed here are not especiallyrestricted. For example, if a virtual object is drawn on a capturedimage such that the virtual object is in contact with a target object,the output data generating block 82 draws the object on a natural-lightcaptured image read from the data storage block 84 such that the objectcorresponds to the state of a target object identified by the targetobject recognizing block 80. The output data generating block 82 sendsthe output data such as the display image and so on generated asdescribed above to the display apparatus 16.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating one example of processingfor acquiring the state of a target object in the present embodiment. Inthis example, a subject including the target object 8 is formed on acaptured image 150. First, the target object recognizing block 80extracts a region of an image of the target object 8 by use of an entireimage having a low resolution (arrow a). An image 152 is indicative ofextraction results, the region of the image of the target object 8 beingblank. For the extraction of the region of a target object, thedetection processing of various types based on external shape may beused as described above or the positional information of the targetobject indicated by a depth image may be used. Alternatively, the changein the state of a target object acquired in the image frames so far maybe used. Still alternatively, appropriate combinations of theabove-mentioned methods may be used.

Next, the target object recognizing block 80 acquires the normal linevector of a target object by analyzing a polarized image 154 having ahigh resolution in the extracted region and acquiring an intermediateparameter of this region from the image capturing apparatus 12 (arrows band c). For example, if the target object 8 is a paddle and if thenormal line vector distribution thereof is obtained as indicated byarrows in an image 156, then a virtual ball that bounces in a properdirection in accordance with the tilt of arrows can be drawn on acaptured image. Consequently, a table tennis game with the target object8 being a controller can be realized.

As described above, the introduction of an image capturing device havinga polarizer having two or more main-axis angles allows the acquisitionof polarized images in two or more directions. By acquiring the changein the luminance relative to polarization directions for each pixel useof these polarized images, the normal line vector on the surface of thetarget object indicated by that pixel can be acquired. Technologies foracquiring various types of information of a subject by use of polarizedimages have been under research. Methods of obtaining the normal linevector on the surface of a subject is disclosed in Gary Atkinson andEdwin R. Hancock, “Recovery of Surface Orientation from DiffusePolarization,” IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, June 2006, 15(6),pp. 1653-1664 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-58533, for example.In the present embodiment, these methods may be appropriately employed.The following describes an overview thereof.

First, the luminance of the light observed through a polarizer changesas in the following equation relative to main-axis angle θ_(pol) of thepolarizer:

$\begin{matrix}\left\lbrack {{Math}.\mspace{14mu} 1} \right\rbrack & \; \\{I = {\frac{I_{\max} + I_{\min}}{2} + {\frac{I_{\max} - I_{\min}}{2}{\cos \left( {2\left( {\theta_{pol} - \phi} \right)} \right)}}}} & \left( {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 1} \right)\end{matrix}$

In the above equation, I_(max) and I_(min) are a maximum value and aminimum value of the luminance observed and φ is polarization phase. Asdescribed above, if a polarized image is acquired from four main-axisangles θ_(pol), luminance I of the pixels at the same position satisfiesequation 1 above for each main-axis angle θ_(pol). Therefore, byapproximating a curve passing these coordinates (I, θ_(pol)) to thecosine function by use of least-square I_(max), I_(min), and φ can beobtained. By use of I_(max) and I_(min) thus obtained, polarizationdegree p can be obtained by the following equation.

$\begin{matrix}\left\lbrack {{Math}.\mspace{14mu} 2} \right\rbrack & \; \\{\rho = \frac{I_{\max} - I_{\min}}{I_{\max} + I_{\min}}} & \left( {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 2} \right)\end{matrix}$

The normal line on the surface of target object can be represented byazimuth angle α indicative of the angle of the incident surface of light(the emitting surface in the case of diffuse reflection) and zenithangle θ indicative of an angle on the this surface. Further, accordingto a dichroic reflation model, the spectrum of reflected light isrepresented by a linear sum of the spectra of mirror reflection anddiffuse reflection. Mirror reflection is the light that is positivelyreflected on the surface of a body and diffuse reflection is the lightdiffused by the coloring matter particles making up a body. Azimuthangle α mentioned above is the main-axis angle giving minimum luminanceI_(min) in equation 1 in the case of mirror reflection and the main-axisangle giving maximum luminance I_(max) in equation 1 in the case ofdiffuse reflection.

Zenith angle θ has relations with polarization degree ρ_(s) in the caseof mirror reflection and polarization degree ρ_(d) in the case ofdiffuse reflection as follows.

$\begin{matrix}\left\lbrack {{Math}.\mspace{11mu} 3} \right\rbrack & \; \\{{\rho_{s} = \frac{2\sin^{2}\theta \; \cos \; \theta \sqrt{n^{2} - {\sin^{2}\theta}}}{n^{2} - {\sin^{2}\theta} - {n^{2}\sin^{2}\theta} + {2\sin^{4}\theta}}}{\rho_{d} = \frac{\left( {n - {1/n}} \right)^{2}\sin^{2}\theta}{2 + {2n^{2}} - {\left( {n + {1/n}} \right)^{2}\sin^{2}\theta} + {4\cos \; \theta \sqrt{n^{2} - {\sin^{2}\theta}}}}}} & \left( {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 3} \right)\end{matrix}$

In the above, n denotes the refractive index of a target object. Zenithangle θ is obtained by substituting polarization degree ρ obtained inequation 2 into any one of p and p in equation 3. By azimuth angle α andzenith angle θ thus obtained, normal line vector (p_(x), p_(y), p_(z))is obtained as follows.

$\begin{matrix}\left\lbrack {{Math}.\mspace{11mu} 4} \right\rbrack & \; \\{\begin{pmatrix}p_{x} \\p_{y} \\p_{z}\end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix}{\cos \; \alpha \; \cos \; \theta} \\{\sin \; \alpha \; \cos \; \theta} \\{\sin \; \theta}\end{pmatrix}} & \left( {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 4} \right)\end{matrix}$

Thus, from the relation between luminance I indicated by each pixel of apolarized image and main-axis angle θ_(pol) of a polarizer, the normalline vector of a target object captured in this pixel can be obtained,thereby providing a normal line vector distribution for an entire image.It should be noted however that, since the observed light includes themirror reflection component and the diffuse reflection component thatare different from each other in behavior, the normal line vector alsovaries depending on the ratio between these components, to be strict. Onthe other hand, if one target object is focused, it is difficult tothink that the ratio between the components irregularly varies on thecontinuous surfaces of the target object in consideration that thematerial and color thereof are restricted.

That is, if the normal vector distribution is regarded as thedistribution inside the region of the image of one target object, thespatial and temporal variations in the normal line vector may beconsidered as the reflection of the variation of the actual targetobject. Therefore, in the present embodiment, one of a mirror reflectionmodel and a diffuse reflection model is employed and the normal linevector obtained for each pixel is evaluated for the entire image of thefocused target object, thereby efficiently identifying the state. Itshould be noted that, in a mode where the target object can berestricted such as a controller of a game, the color and material of thetarget object can be registered in advance so as to employ a more propermodel, thereby enhancing the state identification accuracy.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the imagecapturing apparatus 12 in more detail. The luminance data acquiringblock 70 acquires the luminance distribution of the polarized componentsin two or more directions by the two-dimensional array of imagecapturing device illustrated in FIG. 2, for example. According to theimage capturing device illustrated in FIG. 2, the luminance of thepolarized components in four directions can be discretely acquired atthe position depending on the arrangement of the polarizer of eachmain-axis angle.

The image data generating block 72 has an image signal processor (ISP)50 and a pyramid filter block 52. The ISP 50 generates four polarizedimages by interpolating the polarization illumination data in eachdirection. An algorithm for use in the interpolation may be ageneral-purpose algorithm. Executing the interpolation processing inparallel in four directions allows the simultaneous output of the pixellines of four polarized images. It should be noted that the ISP 50 alsoexecutes correction processing of various types to be executed in ageneral image capturing apparatus, in addition to the interpolationprocessing.

The four polarized images generated by the ISP 50 are sequentially sentto the pixel value converting block 74 and, at the same time, stepwisereduced in the pyramid filter block 52. In what follows, the polarizedimages generated by the ISP 50 or the images of various data having thesame size (resolution) as that of this image will be referred to as “1/1images” and the polarized images reduced to 1/N or the images of variousdata having the same size as that of this image will be referred to as“1/N images.” The pyramid filter block 52 has the number of ¼ reductionfilters in accordance with a necessary resolution level and stepwisereduces the polarized images in each direction, thereby generatingpolarized images having two or more resolutions. In this diagram, thefilters of three layers, a first filter 54 a, a second filter 54 b, anda third filter 54 c, are illustrated, the number of filters being notrestricted thereto however.

Each filter executes the processing of computing an average pixel valueof four pixels by bi-linearly interpolating the four pixels adjacent toeach other. Therefore, the image size after the processing becomes ¼ ofthat of the image before the processing. In the stage preceding thefirst filter 54 a, a first in first out (FIFO) buffer 56 a for holdingthe pixel values for W that is the number of pixel values in one line ofthe 1/1 image generated by the ISP 50. The FIFO buffer 56 a holds theluminance data of the pixels for one line until the luminance data ofthe pixels for a next one line are outputted from the ISP 50.

A pixel holding time is determined by the speed of the line scan of animage capturing device. When the luminance data for two lines areinputted, the first filter 54 a averages the luminance values for thefour pixels of two lines×two columns. Repeating this processing reducesthe length of the 1/1 image to ½ in each of line and column, beingconverted into the size of ¼ as a whole. The converted ¼ image is sentto the pixel value converting block 74 and, at the same time, suppliedalso to the second filter 54 b of the next stage.

In the preceding stage of the second filter 54 b, a FIFO buffer 56 b isarranged for holding the pixel values for W/2 that is the number ofpixels in one line of the ¼ images. The FIFO buffer 56 b holds theluminance data of the pixels for one line until the luminance data ofthe pixels for a next line are outputted from the first filter 54 a.When the luminance data of the pixels for two lines are inputted, thesecond filter 54 b averages the luminance values for the four pixels oftwo lines×two columns. Repeating this processing reduces the length ofthe ¼ image to ½ in each of line and column, being converted into thesize of 1/16 as a whole. The converted 1/16 image is sent to the pixelvalue converting block 74 and, at the same time, supplied also to thethird filter 54 c of the next stage.

The third filter 54 c also executes the same processing as describedabove except that the FIFO buffer 56 c is arranged for holding the pixelvalues for W/4 at the preceding stage. Then, an image of 1/64 size isoutputted to the pixel value converting block 74. Thus, from each filterof the pyramid filter block 52, the data of a polarized image reduced by¼ is inputted into the pixel value converting block 74. It should benoted that such a pyramid filter is realized by a known technology. Onthe other hand, the pyramid filter block 52 according to the presentembodiment executes the reduction processing also in parallel afteracquiring the data of the polarized images in four directions from theISP 50 in parallel.

The pixel value converting block 74 computes, for each pixel, apredetermined parameter necessary until a normal line vector is acquiredfrom the polarized images in four directions so as to generate an imagewith this parameter being a pixel value. Next, of the original polarizedimage and the newly generated image, the necessary data is selected andoutputted in the order of pixel lines. Here, the data of the originalpolarized data may be one that is integrated to have the number ofchannels corresponding to two or more directions as pixel values. Themechanism for executing the above-mentioned processing may beindependently arranged for each of two or more resolutions that aregenerated by the image data generating block 72 allows the setting ofthe combinations of resolutions and data type without restriction.

The pixel value converting block 74 supplies the data selected for eachresolution to the transmission image generating block 76 in parallel.Executing a part of the processing related with normal line vectors bythe pixel value converting block 74 allows the mitigation of the load ofthe processing of target object recognition in the informationprocessing apparatus 10, thereby enhancing the efficiency of theinformation processing to be subsequently executed. Further, thecomputation of parameters for each resolution in advance allows theinformation processing apparatus 10 to instantly switch between thecombinations of the types and the resolutions of the data to be sent inaccordance with the contents of the intended processing and a state ofthe target object.

It should be noted that, since the types and resolutions of the data tobe actually sent are finally selected by the transmission imagegenerating block 76, the data to be outputted by the pixel valueconverting block 74 may be fixed in accordance with the contents of theinformation processing. Alternatively, the switching may be done fromtime to time in response to a request from the information processingapparatus 10. The transmission image generating block 76 has an outputtiming adjusting block 56 and a cropping block 60. The output timingadjusting block 56 adjusts the timing such that the data of two or moreresolutions supplied from the pixel value converting block 74 inparallel are connected in a proper pixel line unit and a proper sequenceand outputs the adjusted data.

For this purpose, the output timing adjusting block 56 is arranged withFIFO buffers 58 a, 58 b, 58 c, and 58 d for respectively holding thepixel values for one line of polarized images or images of variousparameters having sizes of 1/1, ¼, 1/16, and 1/64. That is, the FIFObuffers 58 a, 58 b, 58 c, and 58 d hold the pixel values for W, W/2, W4,and W8, respectively.

Every time the data of pixels for one line of a 1/1 image is outputted,the output timing adjusting block 56 basically outputs the data of apixel line obtained by dividing the one line of a ¼ image by 2, the dataof a pixel line obtained by dividing the one line of a 1/16 image by 4,and the data of a pixel line obtained by dividing the one line of a 1/64image by 8, in this order. According to the present embodiment, theprocessing to be executed by the image capturing apparatus 12 isexecuted in a raster sequence in which, with the upper left of an imagebeing the origin, the processing from the left to the right is repeateddownward of the image. Then, as described above, the input/output ofdata in each block in the image capturing apparatus 12 and thetransmission of data to the information processing apparatus 10 arebasically executed in a stream form in which the pixel values areconnected in such a sequence.

The data to be outputted by the output timing adjusting block 56 is alsoa stream of a sequence of pixel values in which data having two or moreresolutions exist together. Therefore, to be strict, a result ofconnecting the data of two or more resolutions is not generated as theimage of a two-dimensional plane. However, as will be described later,if the number of pixels after one cycle of the connection of the data oftwo or more resolutions is for one line of the image relative to astream that is outputted by the output timing adjusting block 56, thesubsequent processing becomes the same as the processing to be executedon an image that is generally transferred in a stream.

As a result, the output timing adjusting block 56 substantiallygenerates an image obtained by synthesizing the data of 1/1, ¼, 1/16,and 1/64 images. In what follows, this virtual image is referred to as“synthesized image.” The cropping block 60 acquires a stream ofsynthesized images from the output timing adjusting block 56 so as toextract a part of the data included in this stream, the part beingrequested from the information processing apparatus 10. Connecting thedata of various types in a proper pixel line unit and a proper sequenceby the output timing adjusting block 56, each of the connected data canconfigure a rectangular region in each synthesized image. Thisarrangement allows the simultaneous specification the type andresolution of the requested data and the region on an image plane byspecifying the region of each synthesized image.

In the data stream of synthesized images supplied from the output timingadjusting block 56, the cropping block 60 sequentially crops pixel linescorresponding to the specified region and then connects the croppedpixel lines, thereby reconstructing and outputting a new data stream.The communication block 78 has a packetizing block 62 and a controlblock 64. On the basis of a request signal from the informationprocessing apparatus 10, the control block 64 instructs the pixel valueconverting block 74 and the cropping block 60 to select any one of thedata of various types. Further, the control block 64 may receive asignal for requesting the start and end of image capturing and a signalfor specifying image capturing conditions from the informationprocessing apparatus 10 and notify the luminance data acquiring block 70and the ISP 50 of this information from time to time.

The packetizing block 62 divides the data stream inputted from thecropping block 60 by a size corresponding to a predetermined protocol soas to packetize the divided stream, thereby writing resultant packets toan internal packet buffer (not depicted). In the case of USB, forexample, a stream is packetized for each size of end point. Then, thepackets in this packet buffer are sequentially transferred to theinformation processing apparatus 10.

FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically illustrating the basic transitionsdata forms in the image capturing apparatus 12 and the informationprocessing apparatus 10. The following describes a case in which thedata of an entire image 200 having widths for W pixels in a horizontaldirection and H pixels in a vertical direction is sent from the imagecapturing apparatus 12 to the information processing apparatus 10, forexample. As described above, in the present embodiment, the generationand the output of data are executed in an image plane raster sequenceand the data to be finally sent is also of a form of a stream in whichhorizontal pixel lines on an image plane are sequentially connected.

In this diagram, the horizontal axis of a stream 202 is indicative ofthe passing of time and rectangles L1, L2, . . . , and LH are indicativeof the data of the pixels in line 1, line 2, . . . , and line H of theimage 200, respectively. Let the data size one pixel be d bytes, thenthe data size of each rectangle is W×d bytes. The packetizing block 62packetizes the stream 202 by a predetermined size, thereby generatingpackets P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, . . . . This sends the packet P1, P2, P3,P4, P5, . . . from the image capturing apparatus 12 to the informationprocessing apparatus 10. Receiving the packets P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, . . ., the communication block 86 of the information processing apparatus 10stores the data thereof into the data storage block 84.

At this moment, the data of each packet is arranged in a raster sequencesuch that the number of pixels W in the horizontal direction of theoriginal image 200 becomes the horizontal width so as to develop thedata at continuous addresses by W×d×H bytes, thereby generating an image204 in which the image 200 is restored. In this diagram, rectanglesmaking up the image 204 are each indicative of the data of each packet.The target object recognizing block 80 and the output data generatingblock 82 use the image 204 developed in the data storage block 84 forthe purpose of analysis and drawing an object on the image 204.

Next, the following describes a technique that the output timingadjusting block 56 connects the data of images having differentresolutions. It should be noted that FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate imageshaving three sizes of 1/1, ¼, and 1/16 (three resolutions), principlesremaining the same if images having sizes equal to or less than 1/64.FIG. 8 illustrates a timing chart indicative of timings with which thepixel value of a polarized image having each resolution is inputted fromthe pyramid filter block 52 to the pixel value converting block 74. Inthis diagram, time steps S1, S2, S3, S4, . . . are indicative of theperiods with which the pixel values of line 1, line 2, line 3, line 4, .. . of a 1/1 image are inputted, respectively.

It should be noted that, since the pixel value converting block 74computes and outputs predetermined parameters in the sequence of pixelsinputted from the pyramid filter block 52 with the illustrated timings,the timings of the data input from the pixel value converting block 74to the output timing adjusting block 56 are provided in the same manner.First, let a period in which the pixel values for one line of a 1/1image generated with the highest frequency be a reference time step.Then, this stim step is made correspond to the pixel lines for onehorizontal line of a synthesized image. That is, with a period in whichthe pixel values for one horizontal line of a 1/1 image being areference period, the data for one horizontal line of a synthesizedimage is formed.

The upper level, the middle level, and the lower level are indicative ofthe input timings of a 1/1 image, a ¼ image, and a 1/16 image, onerectangle corresponding to the input for one pixel. First, in time stepS1, the pixel values of pixel line L_((1/1))1 of line 1 of the 1/1 imageare sequentially inputted starting from the left pixel. In this timestep, since the ¼ image and the 1/16 image are not generated, the pixelsof these images are not inputted.

In the next time step S2, the pixel values of pixel line L_((1/1))2 ofline 2 of the 1/1 image are sequentially inputted starting from the leftpixel. At this moment, in the pyramid filter block 52, since pixel lineL_((1/4))1 of line 1 of the ¼ image is generated by use of the pixelvalues of pixel line L_((1/1))1 of line 1 and pixel line L_((1/1))2 ofline 2 of the 1/1 image, the pixel values of this pixel line are alsoinputted in time step S2.

For example, the pixel values to be inputted in a period 210 that is theleft end of pixel line L_((1/4))1 of line 1 of the ¼ image are generatedby use of the pixel values of two pixels that are inputted in a period206 among pixel line L_((1/1))1 of line 1 of the 1/1 image and the pixelvalues of two pixels that are inputted in a period 208 among pixel lineL_((1/1))2 of line 2. Therefore, in time step S2, the input timing ofthe pixel values of pixel line L_((1/4))1 delays behind the input timingof the pixel values of the corresponding pixels of pixel line L_((1/1))2by at least two pixels.

In the next time step S3, the pixel values of pixel line L_((1/1))3 ofline 3 of the 1/1 image are inputted. In this time step, the ¼ image andthe 1/16 image are not generated, so that these images are not inputted.In the next time step S4, namely, an internal in which the pixel valuesof pixel line L_((1/1))4 of line 4 of the 1/1 image are inputted, thepixel values of pixel line L_((1/4))2 of line 2 of the ¼ image are alsoinputted as with time step S2.

Further, in the pyramid filter block 52, since pixel line L_((1/16)) ofline 1 of the 1/16 image is generated by use of the pixel values ofpixel line L_((1/4))1 of line 1 and pixel line L_((1/4))2 of line 2 ofthe ¼ image, the pixel values of this pixel line are also inputted intime step S4. For example, in pixel line L_((1/16))1 of line 1 of the1/16 image, the pixel values to be inputted in a first input period 218are generated by use of the pixel values of two pixels to be inputted inthe period 210 and the period 212 in the pixel line L_((1/4)) of line 1of the ¼ image and the pixel values of two pixels to be inputted in theperiod 214 and the period 216 in pixel line L_((1/4))2 of line 2.

For this reason, in time step S4, the input timing of pixel lineL_((1/16))1 delays behind the input timing of the pixel values of thecorresponding pixels of pixel line L_((1/4))2 by at least two pixels.Subsequently, likely repeating the pixel value input of each imageinputs all pixel values of the 1/1 image, the ¼ image, and the 1/16image into the pixel value converting block 74 and then eventually intothe output timing adjusting block 56. The output timing adjusting block56 cyclically outputs these pixel values with proper timings so as toform the data stream that makes up one synthesized image.

FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically illustrating a synthesized imagegenerated by cyclically outputting the data of images having two or moreresolutions by the output timing adjusting block 56. It should be notedthat, for the ease of understanding, this diagram illustrates a mannerin which only the data of three types corresponding to the threeresolutions illustrated in FIG. 8 are connected; however, if data of twoor more types are generated for one resolution, the data having the sameresolution are consecutively connected. In this case, the FIFO buffers58 a through 58 d depicted in FIG. 6 are arranged for each type of datato be generated.

In this diagram, S1, S2, S3, . . . are indicative of the same time stepsas those illustrated in FIG. 8, the pixel values for one line of the 1/1image being inputted in each period. In this diagram, the pixel lineoutputted in each time step is indicated by a dotted rectangle differentfor each image. As described above with reference to FIG. 8, since, intime step S1, only the pixel values of pixel line L_((1/1))1 of line 1of the 1/1 image is inputted, the output timing adjusting block 56outputs these pixel values without change. Let the number of horizontalpixels of the original polarized image be W, then the number of pixelsfor one line of the 1/1 image is also W as illustrated.

In the next time step S2, the pixel values of pixel line L_((1/1))2 ofline 2 of the 1/1 image and the pixel values of pixel line L_((1/4))1 ofline 1 of the ¼ image are inputted in parallel with the timingsillustrated in FIG. 8. Of these pixel values, the output timingadjusting block 56 temporarily stores the pixel values of pixel lineL_((1/4))1 of line 1 of the ¼ image into the FIFO buffer 58 b andcontinuously outputs the pixel values of pixel line L_((1/1))2 of line 2of the 1/1 image before.

When the pixel values of pixel line L_((1/1))2 of line 2 of the 1/1image have all been outputted, then pixel line L_((1/4))1 of line 1 ofthe ¼ image is read from the FIFO buffer 58 b and outputted. At thismoment, by considering the pixel values to be outputted in the next timestep S3, only the pixel values of the first half (the left half in theimage plane) of all pixels of pixel line L_((1/4))1 of line 1 of theimage ¼ are outputted, the remaining pixel values being still stored inthe FIFO buffer 58 b.

In the next time step S3, only the pixel values of pixel line L_((1/1))3of line 3 of the 1/1 image are inputted. The output timing adjustingblock 56 outputs the pixel values of this pixel line without change andthen reads the pixel values of the last half (the right half in theimage plane) that have not yet been outputted of pixel line L_((1/4))1of line 1 of the ¼ image from the FIFO buffer 58 b and outputs thesepixel values. It should be noted that, if pixel line L_((1/1))3 of line3 of the 1/1 image is inputted in the period in which the pixel valuesof the first half of the ¼ image is being outputted in time step S2,then the pixel values of this pixel line are stored in the FIFO buffer58 a so as to be adjusted in output timing. This holds the same withsubsequent time steps.

In the next time step S4, the pixel values of pixel line L_((1/1))4 ofline 4 of the 1/1 image and the pixel values of pixel line L_((1/4))2 ofline 2 of the ¼ image and pixel line L_((1/16))1 of line 1 of the 1/16image are inputted in parallel with the timings illustrated in FIG. 8.Of these pixel values, the output timing adjusting block 56 temporarilystores the pixel values of pixel line L_((1/4))2 of line 2 of the ¼image and pixel line L_((1/16))1 of line 1 of the 1/16 image into theFIFO buffers 58 b and 58 c, respectively and continuously outputs thepixel values of pixel line L_((1/1))4 of line 4 of the 1/1 image before.

When the pixel values of pixel line L_((1/1))4 of line 4 of the 1/1image have all been outputted, then the first half part of pixel lineL_((1/4))2 of line 2 of the ¼ image is read from the FIFO buffer 58 band outputted. Next, pixel line L_((1/16))1 of line 1 of the 1/16 imageis outputted. At this moment, by considering the pixel values to beoutputted in the subsequent three time steps of time steps S5, S6, andS7, pixel line L_((1/16))1 of line 1 of the 1/16 image is divided by 4and only the pixel values of the first part are outputted. The remainingpixel values are stored in the FIFO buffer 58 c.

In the next time step S5, only the pixel values of pixel line L_((1/1))5of line 5 of the 1/1 image are inputted. The output timing adjustingblock 56 outputs the pixel values of this pixel line without change andthen reads the pixel values of the last half part not yet outputted ofpixel line L_((1/4))2 of line 2 of the ¼ image from the FIFO buffer 58 band output these pixel values. Further, of the data not yet outputted ofpixel line L_((1/16))1 of line 1 of the 1/16 image, the pixel values ofthe second part of the data obtained by dividing by 4 are outputted.

Likewise, in the next time step 6, the pixel values of pixel lineL_((1/1))6 of line 6 of the 1/1 image, the pixel values of the firsthalf part of pixel line L_((1/4))3 of line 3 of the ¼ image, and, of thedata not yet outputted of pixel line L_((1/16))1 of line 1 of the 1/16image, the pixel values of the third part of the data obtained bydividing by 4 are outputted. In the next time step S7, the pixel valuesof pixel line L_((1/1))7 of line 7 of the 1/1 image, the pixel values ofthe last half part of pixel line L_((1/4))3 of line 3 of the ¼ image,and, of the pixel line L_((1/16))1 of line 1 of the 1/16 image, thepixel values of the last part of the data obtained by dividing by 4 areoutputted.

That is, pixel line L_((1/4))1 of line 1 of the ¼ image is outputted inhalves in two time steps of time step S2 and time step S3. Further,pixel line L_((1/16))1 of line 1 of the 1/16 image is outputted inquarters in four time steps of time steps S4, S5, S6, and S7. Let thenumber of horizontal pixels of the 1/1 image be W, then the numbers ofpixels for one horizontal line of the ¼ image and the 1/16 image are W/2and W/4, respectively, so that, as illustrated in this diagram, the dataof (W/2)/2 and (W/4)/4 pixels are outputted per time step, respectively.

The output processing described above is repeated down to the line onthe lowest level. At this moment, at the point of time when the data ofthe pixel line on the lowest level of the 1/1 image has been outputted,the data of the last half of the pixel line on the lowest level of the ¼image and the data of the remaining ¾ on the lowest level of the 1/16image remain not outputted. Therefore, in the immediately following timestep S (H+1), the data of the last half part of the pixel line on thelowest level of the ¼ image and the data of the second part obtained bydividing the pixel line on the lowest level of the 1/16 image by 4 areoutputted.

At this moment, invalid data is first outputted as the data for W pixelsin which the data of the 1/1 image has been outputted so far, followedby the output of the ¼ image and the 1/16 image. In the subsequent twotime steps S (H+2) and S (H+3), invalid data is first outputted as thedata for W+(W/2)/2 pixels in which the data of the 1/1 image and the ¼image have been outputted so far, followed by the output of the data ofthe third part and the fourth part obtained by dividing the pixel lineon the lowest level of the 1/16 image by 4, respectively. It should benoted that, since this diagram illustrates the width of one line of thepixels wider than the actual width for the convenience of description,the ratio of the invalid data indicated by dark hatching iscomparatively large; actually, however, the invalid data is equal to orless than 1% of all area a synthesized image 220.

Outputting under these rules results in the output of the data ofW+(W/2)/2+(W/4)/4=21W/16 pixels in each time step except for the firstthree time steps and the last three time steps. Further, since theoutput of the pixel values for one line requires one time step for a 1/1image, two time steps for a ¼ image, and four time steps for a 1/16image, the number of time steps necessary for outputting the image datafor one frame is H=(H/2)×2=(H/4)×4, being equal between the imagesregardless of the sizes thereof. As a result, the total number of timesteps required for outputting the data for one frame of the images ofthree types is H+3.

As described above, while the data outputted by the output timingadjusting block 56 is a series of pixel values, giving the number ofpixels corresponding to each time step, namely, 21W/16 as the number ofpixels for one horizontal line in advance allows the data to beoutputted in each time step to be handled as the data for one line ofthe image as with a general mage frame.

If the synthesized image 220 made up as described above is grasped bythe two-dimensional plane as illustrated in FIG. 9, each line of thepixel lines in the horizontal direction corresponds to a time stepdefined with an output period of a 1/1 image as reference. Further,fixing a range occupied by the data of each image in a pixel lineoutputted in each time step makes up a rectangular region with the dataof each image settled as illustrated on the two-dimensional plane of thesynthesized image 220. Use of the locality thereof allows the extractionof data by type with ease.

The cropping block 60 crops the image data requested by the informationprocessing apparatus 10 from the synthesized image 220. The processingto be executed by the cropping block 60 is the same as general croppingprocessing in which a specified rectangular region is cropped from animage so as to exclude an excess region. In the present embodiment, thetarget of processing is not an image plane but a data stream; however,giving the information regarding the number of pixels for one horizontalline of a synthesized image in advance allows the correspondence betweenthe two-dimensional coordinate of an image plane and the one-dimensionalcoordinate in a stream with ease and, at the same time, allows theidentification of pixels to be cropped in the same manner.

FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically illustrating state changes of dataresponding to a request from the information processing apparatus 10.The top of this diagram is indicative of a synthesized image 222 to besupplied from the output timing adjusting block 56 to the cropping block60 in a sequence of pixels, corresponding to the synthesized image 220illustrated in FIG. 9. It should be noted that, according to theconnection rules described above, only the data of a 1/1 image keeps thetwo-dimensional array of pixels also in the synthesized image 222, sothat the same image as the original image is displayed. By specifying aregion in the synthesized image 222 as described above, the informationprocessing apparatus 10 requests for data.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 10, a region of Y0 ≤Y<Y1 in thevertical direction (Y-axis direction) and three regions of X0≤X<X1,X2≤X<X3, and X3≤X<X4 in the horizontal direction (X-axis direction) arespecified. It should be noted that, in the illustrated example, theregion of X0≤X<X1 corresponds to the region around the target object ofthe 1/1 image and the regions of X2≤X<X3 and X3≤X<X4 correspond to theentire regions of the ¼ image and the 1/16 image, respectively.

The cropping block 60 crops the specified region from the synthesizedimage 222 from the output timing adjusting block 56 in a sequence ofhorizontal pixels. To be more specific, only the pixel lines in theranges of X0≤X<X1, X2≤X<X3, and X3≤X<X4 from the pixel line of Y0 andthe cropped pixel lines are sequentially supplied to the packetizingblock 62. Next, the pixel line of Y0+1, the pixel line of Y0+2, . . . inthe same range are cropped likewise to be supplied to the packetizingblock 62. The packetizing block 62 sequentially divides the data streamwith the supplied pixel lines connected into predetermined sizes forpacketization and sends the resultant packets to the informationprocessing apparatus 10.

As a result, the image capturing apparatus 12 sends the data stream of anew synthesized image 240 consisting of only the data of the croppedregion to the information processing apparatus 10. The communicationblock 86 of the information processing apparatus 10 divides the receiveddata stream by data so as to develop the divided data stream on thecontinuous addresses in the data storage block 84 such that the imageplane is reconstructed. Consequently, in the illustrated example, of the1/1 image, the data of a region 242 around the target object, an entireregion 246 of the ¼ image, and an entire region 248 of the 1/16 imageare stored in the data storage block 84.

As described above, the information processing apparatus 10 cansimultaneously specify the type, resolution, and the region on an imageplane of the data to be requested from the region inside a synthesizedimage. The cropping block 60 can specify only the minimum necessary dataas the target of transmission by cropping only the specified region soas to generate a new stream. Here, as illustrated, making common thevertical ranges of two or more regions to be specified can stabilize bitrates, thereby facilitating the estimation of a time necessary for datatransmission.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the pixel valueconverting block 74 in more detail. The pixel value converting block 74in this example has a computing block 250 configured to acquire andcompute the luminance of the polarized images in four directions so asto generate intermediate parameters and a transmission data formingblock 252 configured to select necessary data from the luminance of theoriginal polarized image and the data of the computed intermediateparameters and, at the same time, convert the selected data into a finaltransmission form. As depicted in FIG. 6, the pixel value convertingblock 74 has a configuration in which mechanism as illustrated arearranged in parallel for the outputs of the four resolutions of thepyramid filter block 52.

In this diagram, notations “I₀,” “I₄₅,” “I₉₀,” and “I₁₃₅” are indicativeof the data of luminance when main-axis angles θ_(pol) of the polarizersare 0 degree, 45 degrees, 90 degrees, and 135 degrees, respectively. Thecomputing block 250 is made up of the computing elements of three types,each executing the following computations.

$\begin{matrix}\left\lbrack {{Math}.\mspace{11mu} 5} \right\rbrack & \; \\{{a = \frac{I_{45} - I_{135}}{2}}{b = \frac{I_{0} - I_{90}}{2}}{c = \frac{I_{0} + I_{45} + I_{90} + I_{135}}{4}}} & \left( {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 5} \right)\end{matrix}$

Here, when main-axis angles θ_(pol) are 0 degree, 45 degrees, 90degrees, and 135 degrees, a, b, and c are indicative of intermediateparameters necessary for approximating the function of equation 1 fromluminance I thereof, thereby giving coefficients obtained when equation1 is converted into the following form.

[Math. 6]

y=a sin 2θ_(pol) +b cos 2θ_(pol) +c  (Equation 6)

Using the relation between equation 1 and equation 6 polarization degreeρ expressed by equation 3 and polarization phase φ expressed by equation1 are obtained as follows.

$\begin{matrix}\left\lbrack {{Math}.\mspace{11mu} 7} \right\rbrack & \; \\{{\rho = \frac{\sqrt{a^{2} + b^{2}}}{c}}{\phi = {\arctan \left( \frac{a}{b} \right)}}} & \left( {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 7} \right)\end{matrix}$

The transmission data forming block 252 uses the luminance data of eachmain-axis angle outputted from the pyramid filter block 52 and thevalues of parameters a, b, and c that are results of the computation byequation 5 as input values and selects the necessary data from theseinput values so as to convert the selected data into a predeterminedform and output the converted data. For example, if the informationprocessing apparatus 10 requests for the luminance data of a polarizedimage, the transmission data forming block 252 outputs the values ofluminance I₀, I₄₅, I₉₀, and I₁₃₅ for the four main-axis angles as4-channel pixel values.

If parameters a, b, and c are requested, the values of these parametersare outputted as 3-channel pixel values. Repeating such processing inthe sequence of pixels outputted from the pyramid filter block 52 allowsthe instant input of the requested data into the output timing adjustingblock 56. Further, arranging a similar configuration for each resolutionto be outputted by the pyramid filter block 52 allows the freecombinations of resolution and data types in which the luminance data ofa polarized image is to be sent with a certain resolution and parametersa, b, and c are to be sent with another resolution, for example.

Then, as described above, from the synthesized image with theabove-mentioned data connected, only the requested region is cropped andthe cropped region is sent so as to allow the sending of the minimumnecessary data with a low latency. It should be noted that thetransmission data forming block 252 may use the inputted data so as tofurther execute necessary computation and quantization, thereby reducingthe data amount as will be described later.

The pixel value converting block 74 executes a part of the processing ofacquiring such data for use in the recognition of a target object as thenormal line on the surface of subject to be captured and so on in theinformation processing apparatus 10. Suitably, the arrangement forcomputing parameters that can be computed on a pixel basis can preventthe flow of the processing in the sequence of pixels in the entire imagecapturing apparatus 12 from being stopped. In this respect, the types ofthe parameters to be computed by the pixel value converting block 74 arenot restricted. FIG. 12 illustrates another example of the configurationof the pixel value converting block 74. This pixel value convertingblock 74 is configured to execute computation in further stages thanthose in the example illustrated in FIG. 11. To be more specific, acomputing block 254 computes the parameters a, b, and c indicated inequation 5 and further computes 1/c, a/c, b/c, (a²+b²)^(1/2),(a²+b²)^(1/2)/c, 1/b, and a/b that are obtained in the process ofobtaining polarization degree ρ and polarization phase c in equation 7.

Arranging the above-mentioned computing elements on the image capturingapparatus 12 in advance so as to execute an output operation by the samemechanism as that for outputting the luminance of a polarized imageallows the supply of the processing contents obtained in the informationprocessing apparatus 10 and the optimum data according to a situation atthat time. It should be noted that the connection relation between thecomputing elements is not restricted to the illustrated relation. Also,it is unnecessary to arrange all of the illustrated computing elements.Further, it is not necessary to input all of the output data from eachcomputing element into a transmission data forming block 256.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a detail configuration of thetransmission data forming block 256 in the pixel value converting block74 illustrated in FIG. 12. This example has color tone convertingcircuits 260 and 262 for converting the color tone of a polarized image,a reliability determining circuit 264 for determining the reliability ofa normal line, a zenith angle acquiring circuit 266 for acquiring zenithangle θ, and an azimuth angle acquiring circuit 268 for acquiringazimuth angle α. The color tone converting circuits 260 and 262 eachsubstitute luminance values into a logarithmic function and a sigmoidfunction for conversion, thereby executing color tone conversion such asenhancing the contrast of a polarized image.

The reliability determining circuit 264 generates a value indicative ofthe reliability a normal line vector acquired from the polarizedluminance of a pixel concerned. Generally, as the viewpoint of a cameraapproaches in the front direction of a subject, namely, as the anglebetween the normal line of a subject and the optical axis of a cameragets smaller, the azimuth dependency of polarized luminance gets lower,thereby making a computed normal line vector susceptible to theinfluence of noise. On the basis of a value of (a²+b²)^(1/2) outputtedfrom the computing block 254, the reliability determining circuit 264evaluates the reliability of a normal line separately computed in theimage capturing apparatus 12 or the information processing apparatus 10,thereby outputting a value indicative of the reliability.

According to equation 5, the parameters a and b are indicative of thevalues in proportion to the difference between the degrees of luminancewhen the main-axis angle has a difference of 90 degrees; therefore, as(a²+b²)^(1/2) is smaller, the azimuth dependency of polarized luminanceis lower. Therefore, the reliability determining circuit 264 computesthe reliability under predetermined rules in which, as (a²+b²)^(1/2)increases, the value gets higher. However, the reliability may not becontinuous values or may be indicated in two or more steps, or thepresence or absence of the reliability may be indicated by binary 1/0depending on whether or not (a²+b²)^(1/2) has exceeded a predeterminedthreshold value.

In the diagram, the reliability determining circuit 264 outputs thecomputed value of reliability to a quantizing block 274 to be describedlater; it is also practicable to separately output the reliability valueas a pixel value of an image indicative of the reliability. The zenithangle acquiring circuit 266 acquires a zenith angle θ on the basis of(a²+b²)^(1/2)/c that is an approximate value of polarization degree ρ.The relation between polarization degree ρ and zenith angle θ isexpressed a mirror reflection model/diffuse reflection model accordingto equation 3. The zenith angle acquiring circuit 266 holds in aninternal memory a conversion table indicative of the relation inequation 3 depending on the model to be employed and acquires andoutputs the zenith angle θ with (a²+b²)^(1/2)/c acquired from thecomputing block 254 as an index.

As described above, the pixel value converting block 74 is arranged withthe same configuration for each of the four resolutions with which thepyramid filter block 52 generates data; however, the conversion tablesfor acquiring zenith angle θ may be different from each other dependingon the resolutions concerned. This is due to the following reasons. Thatis, as the data of an image is reduced, namely, the resolution getslower, the ratio of the true data to a noise component, namely the SNratio gets higher. This variation in an SN ratio influences thedirection of a normal line to be computed. To be more specific, a low SNratio tends to include an error that zenith angle θ gets greater than aproper value. Suitably, on the basis of this knowledge, a largercorrection is given as the resolution gets higher, thereby using adifferent conversion table so as to provide more correct zenith angle θ.It should be noted that the reliability computation rules in thereliability determining circuit 264 may also be made different dependingon resolutions.

The azimuth angle acquiring circuit 268 computes arctangent arctan(a/b)acquired from the computing block 254 to obtain polarization phase ϕ,thereby outputting azimuth angle α according to a model to be employed.A computation result such as above is once stored in a buffer 270 or abuffer 272 and merge and timing adjustment are appropriately executed onthe buffered computation result so as to be outputted to thetransmission image generating block 76. In this example, however, zenithangle θ and azimuth angle α are inputted in the quantizing block 274 tobe quantized, thereby reducing the amount of data. At this moment, thequantizing block 274 further acquires a numeric values indicative of thereliability computed by the reliability determining circuit 264 so as tobe sent along with the quantized data.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of vector quantization tobe executed by the quantizing block 274. In the diagram, (a)illustrates, in the polar coordinates with zenith angle θ being radiusand azimuth angle α being deflection, the quantization unit of vectorwith these two variables being elements. Generally, the direction ofnormal line is defined in a range in which phase angle α being 0≤α<360degrees and zenith angle θ being 0≤θ≤90 degrees. However, as seen fromequation 1, since the variation for the azimuth of polarized luminanceis in a cycle of 180 degrees, the same behavior results with 0≤α<180degrees and 180≤α<360 degrees, thereby making it difficult to makedistinction between the ranges only from the variation in polarizedluminance.

However, especially if a positional variation or a temporal variation ina normal line on the surface of a particular target object is relativelyobserved, it is hardly possible that phase angle α abruptly changes by180 degrees. Further, if the surface form of a target object isapproximately known, then, even if an error due to such uncertaintyoccurs in some regions, the orientation of a surface as a whole can beidentified. Therefore, in the present embodiment, azimuth angle α isobtained in a range of 0≤α<180 degrees and the region indicated in grayin the polar coordinates in this diagram is excluded. However, if thedifference of 180 degrees is distinguished by other means, quantizationunit may be set in this region.

In addition, since the reliability of a computed normal line depends onan angle thereof, the granularity of quantization unit is varied by therange of angles so as to enhance compression efficiency and mitigatequantization error at the same time. To be more specific, in theneighborhood in which zenith angle θ is 45 degrees, the reliability of acomputed normal line is high, so that quantization unit is made finer.Further, as described above, in the neighborhood in which zenith angle θis 0 degree, namely, with a normal line with an angle to the opticalaxis of a camera is small, the reliability is low, so that quantizationunit is made coarse. In this diagram, the magnitude of the granularityof such quantization unit is expressed by the difference in area betweenthe partitioned regions in the polar coordinates.

The quantizing block 274 uniquely determines an index from inputted (θ,α) by use of a code book of a kind mentioned above. FIG. 14(b) isindicative of quantization unit with a two-dimensional array oforthogonal axis, each square corresponding to the quantization unitgiving the index. In the example illustrated in this diagram, thedefinition ranges of zenith angle θ and azimuth angle α are each dividedby 16, thereby arranging 16×16=256 quantization units. If zenith angle θand azimuth angle α are each defined as 8-bit data and the index is alsodefined by 8 bits, the compression ratio resulted from quantization is50%.

For example, let the index be configured as (p_(x), p_(y), p_(z),reliability), allocating 2 bits for each parameter. Here, (p_(x), p_(y),p_(z)) is obtained by converting a representative vector (θ_(r), α_(r))for each quantization unit into a vector in an orthogonal coordinatesystem by equation 4. “Reliability” is a value indicative of thereliability given by the reliability determining circuit 264. It shouldbe noted that, if the reliability is represented by one bit, then someinformation may further be embedded by use of the remaining one bit.

For example, a tag indicative whether or not the normal line concernedis in the range of angles specified by the information processingapparatus 10 or set in advance may be included. Sending, as a stream,the data of an image with the index having the above-mentionedconfiguration given for each pixel allows the information processingapparatus 10 to acquire the information regarding the normal line vectoras well as the reliability thereof and the information indicative ofwhether or not the target object is tilted within the range ofattention.

Consequently, a state of the target object can be correctly recognizedby use of only the normal line vector with the reliability exceeding athreshold value and the degree of considering the state informationacquired by other means such as a depth image can be varied by use ofthe reliability. In addition, only the target object titled within apredetermined range can be processed. In the transmission data formingblock 256 illustrated in FIG. 13, a route through which variousparameters acquired in the previous stage including the luminance dataof a polarized image other than the output data from the quantizingblock 274 can be outputted is arranged. The transmission data formingblock 256 may only output necessary data among the above-mentioned datain accordance with a request from the information processing apparatus10 or the internal setting.

For example, if only the information regarding a normal line vectorhaving a predetermined resolution is required, the index of 8 bits perpixel outputted by the quantizing block 274 may only be outputted. Ifthe information in more detail is required, the values themselves ofzenith angle θ and phase angle α may only be outputted. As describedabove, since similar computing circuits are arranged in parallel foreach resolution in the pixel value converting block 74, only the datarequired by the information processing apparatus 10 can be instantlyoutputted in accordance with resolutions or situations on amoment-to-moment basis.

It should be noted that, if only the information regarding a normal linevector is wanted, it is enough to send zenith angle θ, azimuth angle α,and an index with these angles quantized in many cases; however, anarrangement in which intermediate parameters can also be sent allows thesecurity of computational reliability and the use of debugging. Further,targets of quantization by the quantizing block 274 may be any of theparameters to be computed in the previous stage in addition to zenithangle θ and azimuth angle α. For example, a/c and b/c computed by thecomputing block 254 may be quantized in the same manner as above to besend and (a²+b²)^(1/2)/c and a/b may be computed in the informationprocessing apparatus 10 to obtain zenith angle θ and azimuth angle α.

Next, the following describes operations of an information processingsystem that is realized by the configuration described above. FIG. 15 isa diagram illustrating a flowchart indicative of a processing procedurein which the image capturing apparatus 12 and the information processingapparatus 10 according to the present embodiment analyze a polarizedimage in cooperation and output a resultant display image. The flowchartin FIG. 15 is started when the user instructs the information processingapparatus 10 to start processing with the image capturing apparatus 12activated. It should be noted that the steps of this flowchart are eachindicated by a rectangle connected in series with other steps for theease of understanding; actually, however, these steps are executed inparallel on a pixel line basis of each frame.

First, the information processing apparatus 10 displays an initial imageon the display apparatus 16 and then requests the image capturingapparatus 12 for the transmission of the data necessary in the initialstage, the data being set in an application program or the like (S12).This request is made up of combinations of the type and resolution ofthe necessary data and a region on an image plane and can be expressedby specifying a region in a virtual synthesized image generated in thetransmission image generating block 76. Alternatively, the stage beforea synthesized image is generated, namely, a combination of the type andresolution of data may be specified for the pixel value converting block74.

It should be noted that, if a mechanism for capturing a natural-lightimage for the image capturing apparatus 12, the information processingapparatus 10 may request for this captured image as an initial image anddisplay this image on the display apparatus 16. Receiving the requestfrom the information processing apparatus 10, the communication block 78of the image capturing apparatus 12 notifies the pixel value convertingblock 74 and the transmission image generating block 76 thereof fromtime to time. On the other hand, the image data generating block 72 ofthe image capturing apparatus 12 interpolates the luminance dataacquired by the luminance data acquiring block 70 and then generates thehierarchical data of the captured image having different resolutionsprovided by the stepwise reduction (S14).

The above description is mainly about polarized images generated by useof polarizers having four main-axis angles; however, it is alsopracticable to generate hierarchical data for natural-light capturedimages in the same manner. If a stereo camera is arranged, hierarchicaldata may be generated for each of the stereo images captured from theleft and right viewpoints. Next, the pixel value converting block 74 ofthe image capturing apparatus 12 executes predetermined computation andconversion by use of images having polarized components in two or moredirections so as to generate, as sorted by resolutions, new images withthe computed parameters being pixel values, thereby outputting at leastone of the generated images (S16).

Next, the transmission image generating block 76 of the image capturingapparatus 12 generates a virtual synthesized image by cyclicallyconnecting the converted data outputted in a sequence of pixels for eachresolution under the rules as described with reference to FIG. 9 (S18),thereby outputting the area requested in S12 by cropping (S20). Itshould be noted that this synthesized image may include a natural-lightcaptured image and a stereo image. The communication block 78packetizes, as sorted by a predetermined size, a data stream outputtedin a sequence of pixels cropped from the synthesized image and sends theresultant packets to the information processing apparatus 10 (S22).

The communication block 86 of the information processing apparatus 10stores the transmitted data stream into the data storage block 84 bydiving the data stream by data (S24). At this moment, as illustrated inFIG. 10, reconstructing the image plane in accordance with theresolution of each piece of data allows the handling of the data streamas image data in the subsequent processing. The target objectrecognizing block 80 identifies such states of the target object asposition, attitude, and shape by use of this data (S26). AT this moment,the image analysis may be executed by such other means than normal linesas stereo matching, tracking, face detection, gesture detection, and soon.

The output data generating block 82 generates a display image by makinga gram progress by use of particular results and executing theprocessing corresponding to movements and outputs the generated displayimage to the display apparatus 16 (S28). If it is necessary, as a resultof the state recognition of the target object, to change thecombinations of types, resolution, and region on image plane of the datato be requested to the image capturing apparatus 12, namely, thenecessary data, (Y of S30), then the target object recognizing block 80requests the image capturing apparatus 12 for the changed data via thecommunication block 86 (S12). In this case, the pixel value convertingblock 74 of the image capturing apparatus 12 and the cropping block 60changes the data to be outputted and the regions to be cropped with atiming of processing a new image frame, thereby executing the processingof S14 through S22.

If there is no need for changing the data to be requested and there isalso no need for ending the processing (N of S30 and N of S32), then theimage capturing apparatus 12 continues sending the data stream byrepeating the processing of S14 through S22 for the following imageframes in the same manner as above. In any case, the informationprocessing apparatus 10 repeats the processing of S24 through S28.Consequently, the results of the information processing executed by useof the image captured by the image capturing apparatus 12 are displayedon the display apparatus 16 as a moving image. If the end of processingis specified by the user, for example, all the processing is ended (Y ofS32).

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a variation example of theconfiguration of the image capturing apparatus 12 illustrated in FIG. 4and FIG. 6. The image capturing apparatus 12 has a luminance dataacquiring block 70, an image data generating block 72, a regionextracting block 280, a pixel value converting block 74, and acommunication block 78. Of these blocks, the luminance data acquiringblock 70, the image data generating block 72, the pixel value convertingblock 74, and the communication block 78 have the same functions asthose of the block illustrated in FIG. 6, so that these blocks have thecommon reference numerals. The region extracting block 280 basically hasthe same function as that of the transmission image generating block 76illustrated in FIG. 6. In this example, however, the data of polarizedimages in four directions for each resolution generated by the imagedata generating block 72 is inputted in the region extracting block 280before.

Then, after extracting a necessary region in the region extracting block280, the pixel value converting block 74 generates the data necessaryfor this region. That is, while the transmission image generating block76 illustrated in FIG. 6 also processes the images of various parametersacquired by use of the original polarized image, the region extractingblock 280 illustrated in FIG. 16 directly processes the polarized image.Here, the region extracting block 280 has a configuration in which a setof an output timing adjusting block 56 for generating a synthesizedimage by cyclically connecting the images having two or more resolutionsas described above and a cropping block 60 for cropping a regionrequested by the information processing apparatus 10 from thesynthesized image is arranged for each polarization direction.

As a result, a data stream of the synthesized image obtained byconnecting, according to predetermined rules, only the requested regionsin the polarized image of each resolution is generated for each of thepolarized components in four directions and the generated data streamsare inputted in the pixel value converting block 74 in parallel. As withFIG. 6, the pixel value converting block 74 computes various parametersby use of the luminance of the polarized components in four directionsand outputs the data requested by the information processing apparatus10. In this case, however, since the target of processing is restrictedto some regions on the image cropped in advance, the amount ofcomputation in the pixel value converting block 74 and the amount ofdata transmission inside the image capturing apparatus 12 can be reducedas compared with the case illustrated in FIG. 6.

The data streams to be outputted from the pixel value converting block74 to the communication block 78 are the same those to be outputted fromthe transmission image generating block 76 to the communication block 78illustrated in FIG. 6. Therefore, as described above, the packetizingblock 62 of the communication block 78 sequentially packetizes thesedata streams and transfers the resultant packets to the informationprocessing apparatus 10. In response to the request from the informationprocessing apparatus 10, the control block 64 notifies the croppingblock 60 of the region extracting block 280 of the regions to be croppedfrom the polarized images having two or more resolutions and the pixelvalue converting block 74 of the type of the data to be outputted foreach region.

Actually, the control block 64 stores the information with the regionsto be cropped related with the type of the data to be outputted forthese regions into the registers (not depicted) that the regionextracting block 280 and the pixel value converting block 74 cancommonly reference. FIG. 17 is a diagram schematically illustrating astructural example of the data to be stored in the register and a mannerof the processing to be accordingly executed by the cropping block 60.First, a region for storing a dataset (cropping start point, croppinglength, and parameter type) for each resolution is arranged in theregister.

In the illustrated example, a register region 282 a for storing fourdatasets having identification numbers “0” through “3” for a 1/1 imageand registers 282 b, 282 c, and 282 d for storing two data sets havingidentification numbers “0” and “1” for a ¼ image, a 1/16 image, and a1/64 image, respectively, are arranged. However, the number of datasetsto be stored is not restricted to those mentioned above. In thisdiagram, “cropping start points” indicated by X0, X1, . . . are thepositional coordinates at the left end of the region to be cropped bythe cropping block 60 on the axis in the horizontal direction of animage plane. It should be noted that cropping start points correspond to“X0,” “X2,” and so on illustrated in FIG. 10.

In the diagram, “cropping lengths” indicated by L0, L1, . . . areindicative of the widths to be cropped from the corresponding croppingstart points X0, X1, . . . . As described above, since the croppingblock 60 actually executes cropping on a data stream inputted from theoutput timing adjusting block 56, the cropping start point and thecropping length are indicative of the start position and length of apixel line to be cropped that periodically appears in the data stream.The cropping start point and the cropping length are commonly read bythe cropping blocks 60 in all polarization directions.

In the diagram, “parameter types” indicated by T0, T1, . . . are read bythe pixel value converting block 74 and are indicative of the parametertype and the data length to be generated and outputted by use of thepolarized luminance of corresponding regions. An example of the datastructure of parameter type will be described later. In accordance withthe setting of cropping start point and cropping length, the croppingblock 60 crops the data from a stream inputted from the output timingadjusting block 56 and outputs the cropping results in the same manneras described with reference to FIG. 10.

In the example illustrated in the diagram, a region having croppingstart point “X1” and cropping length “L1” set as a dataset havingidentification number “0” in the register region 282 a for a polarizedimage 284 a having 1/1 size is cropped. Next, a region having croppingstart point “X2” and cropping length “L2” set as a dataset havingidentification number “1” in the register region 282 a, a region havingcropping start point “X3” and cropping length “L3” set as a datasethaving identification number “2,” and a region having cropping startpoint “X0” and cropping length “L0” set as a dataset havingidentification number “3” are cropped from the polarized image 284 ahaving 1/1 size.

Here, as with the setting of datasets having identification numbers “2”and “3,” the region to be cropped may be the same region as that in theoriginal polarized image. This arrangement allows the generation andoutput of the data of two or more types for the same region by the pixelvalue converting block 74 of the subsequent stage. Further, theidentification number of dataset identifies each region and, at the sametime, specifies the sequence of output from the cropping block 60. Inthe diagram, the pixel line in the region having cropping start point“X0” positioned at the left end of the polarized image 284 a is inputtedearlier than the pixel line of the same line in another region from theoutput timing adjusting block 56; however, giving identification number“3” reverses the output sequence from the cropping block 60.

Thus, by the dataset identification numbers (or the sequence of registerstoring regions), the output sequence of cropped regions is controlledindependently of the arrangement sequence on the original image plane.In this case, the output timings may only be adjusted by the FIFObuffers 58 a through 58 d the output timing adjusting block 56 includes,or the buffers not depicted internally held by the cropping block 60.However, since the cropping and output are executed on a line-by-linebasis as described above, the delay caused by this timing adjustment isminute.

For the polarized images 284 b, 284 c, and 284 d having otherresolutions, cropping and output are sequentially executed with the samesetting. In the illustrated example, the dataset is set only to one ofthe storage regions for two datasets for the polarized image having 1/16size. Thus, the necessary number of storage regions is set up to thelimit of the number of storage regions arranged in the register. In somecases, no setting can also be executed for a polarized image having someresolution, thereby excluding the target to cropping.

Further, in the case illustrated in the diagram, the setting is made tocrop the same regions in two datasets for a polarized image having 1/64size. In this case, the cropping block 60 repetitively outputs the dataof the same regions. On the other hand, as indicated in the diagram as“T7” and “T8,” these two datasets may be made different from each otherin parameter type for the pixel value converting block 74 to generateand output the data of two types for the same regions.

Actually, as described above, the data of a polarized image inputtedfrom the output timing adjusting block 56 is in the state of a datastream with the pixel lines having two or more resolutions regularlyconnected. By following the setting of the register in which thecontents of a request from the information processing apparatus 10 arestored, the cropping block 60 identifies the portions to be cropped fromthis data stream and sequentially outputs the cropped portions. As aresult, as described with reference to FIG. 10, a new synthesized image286 with the cropped region making up a rectangular region is outputtedas a data stream. Thus, the data of the four synthesized images 286 madeup of the same regions of each of the polarized images of each directionare outputted to be inputted in the pixel value converting block 74.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a manner in which the pixel valueconverting block 74 outputs a data stream of specified parameters by useof the data of an inputted polarized image. In the diagram, asynthesized image 290 is obtained by cropping and outputting a datastream by the cropping block 60 of the region extracting block 280 asdescribed above and expressing this data stream on a two-dimensionalplane, this synthesized image corresponding to the synthesized image 286illustrated in FIG. 17. In the diagram, however, one region is croppedfor one resolution for the brevity of diagram. Therefore, it is assumedthat only one dataset is stored in the register regions 282 a, 282 b,282 c, and 282 d each corresponding to one resolution.

In this example, the data of the regions having widths L1, L4, L6, andL7 cropped from the polarized images having 1/1 size, ¼ size, 1/16 size,and 1/64 size make up rectangular regions in a synthesized image 290.However, as described above, the data having ¼ size, 1/16 size, and 1/64size become rectangles having widths L 4/2, L 6/4, and L⅞, respectively,in the synthesized image 290. When the data of the synthesized image 290corresponding to the four polarization directions are sequentiallyinputted starting from the pixel in the upper left, the pixel valueconverting block 74 generates and outputs the parameters in accordancewith the parameter types set to the register region by use of thepolarized luminance in the four directions of the same pixel.

The parameter types “T1,” “T4,” “T6,” and “T7” are each set for eachregion. However, these notations are not meant to always make all ofthese parameter types different from each other. In the diagram, “t0,”“t1,” “t2,” and “t3” are indicative of the timings with which to switchbetween the types of parameters to be outputted. The interval betweenthese timings obviously depends on the cropping lengths “L1,” “L4,”“L6,” and “L7” of the regions. Further, since the synthesized image 290is inputted in the pixel value converting block 74 in the form of a datastream, the switching timing periodically comes for each line of thedata stream.

In addition, since several lines at top and bottom of the synthesizedimage 290 include invalid data due to the timing of generating theoriginal polarized luminance as described above, the pixel valueconverting block 74 also outputs the invalid data for the pixelscorresponding thereto. As a result, if the number of pixels resultedfrom one cycle of the connection of the parameters of two or more typesis defined as one horizontal line of the image, then the data streamoutputted by the pixel value converting block 74 becomes a synthesizedimage 292 with each parameter making up a rectangular region. In thediagram, the synthesized image 292 is indicated with the data sizes perunit area integrated regardless of parameters.

In the present embodiment, each parameter outputted by the pixel valueconverting block 74 is variable in data length depending on type. Hence,the same number of pixels may have different data lengths of pixel linesfor each region if the types of parameters are different. As a result,in the illustrated example, the synthesized image 290 of the originalpolarized image is different from the synthesized image 292 of outputtedparameters in the configuration ratio of each region. For example, thesetting that, while the data of 1/1 size outputs an 8-bit parameter perpixel, the data of 1/64 size outputs a 64-bit parameter per pixelreverses the area ratio.

The parameter type is set in a structure (the number of channels foreach pixel, the data length for each channel, the type of parameter ofeach channel), for example. If the number of channels of each pixelvalue is three types of 1, 2, and 4 and the data length for each channelis two types of 8 bits and 16 bits, then the total of three bits areused in these settings. If the register capacity of parameter type is 16bits, then the remaining 13 bits are allocated to the setting of thetype of parameter to be outputted in each channel.

If the upper limit of the number of channels is 4, then allocating 4bits to one channel and 3 bits to each of the remaining three channelsand specifying a pre-assigned index to the type of parameter allow thespecification of various parameters as illustrated in FIGS. 11 through13 on a case-by-case basis. This arrangement allows the data regardingthe parameters from 8 bits to 64 bits depending on type to be outputtedfrom the pixel value converting block 74 in a sequence of pixel lines ofthe synthesized image 292. However, the setting scheme of parametertypes is not restricted to that mentioned above. It should be noted thatthe techniques of setting cropping regions and parameter types are alsoapplicable in the image capturing apparatus 12 illustrated in FIG. 6 inthe same manner.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating data to be sent in response to arequest by the information processing apparatus 10. However, for theease of understanding, the transmission of various parameters andquantized data obtained from polarized luminance is also expressed inthe original polarized image. In this example, the informationprocessing apparatus 10 first requests for the data of entire visionfield with a low resolution of 1/16 size. Then, by use of the image 300,matching processing and so on are executed so as to identify a partialregion to be analyzed in detail. In the illustrated example, a region302 that includes the images of game controllers and a region 304 thatincludes the images of hands are identified.

In response to this, the information processing apparatus 10 requestsfor the data of the regions 302 and 304. At this moment, a resolution tobe requested is determined in accordance with the size of each region inthe image 300 of the entire vision field and the contents of theprocessing to be executed on this region. In the illustrated example,the data of the resolutions corresponding to the ¼ size for the region302 and the 1/1 size for the region 304 is requested. Then, the data (animage 306) of ¼ size and the data of a depth image separately generatedfrom a stereo image for this region are integrated so as to generate adepth image of high precision.

A depth image is generally generated by extracting corresponding featurepoints in a stereo images and on the basis of a parallax thereof. Due toa load of the processing of extracting corresponding feature points byblock matching or the like and the small number of feature points, it isoften difficult to obtain depth values with a high resolution. Since theinformation regarding normal lines obtained from a polarized image isobtained on a pixel basis, this information may be integrated with theinformation regarding a depth image obtained with a course resolution soas to obtain a depth image with also curved surface forms correctlyexpressed. If the region of the image of a face is identified as atarget object, generating a detail depth image in the same manner allowsthe recognition of countenance with high precision.

On the other hand, the data (an image 308) of high resolution of 1/1size of the region 304 can be used for recognizing and tracking statesof hand and finger in detail. For example, use of an image with thepolarized luminance in three directions allocated to three channels ofred, green, blue (RGB) also facilitates the identification of surfaceforms of arm and hand more than a natural-light captured image.Therefore, by use of such data, hand recognition and tracking can beexecuted with higher precision. Obviously, the information related withnormal lines may be obtained so as to obtain state information in moredetail.

Further, if it is found that a hand is approaching the image capturingapparatus 12 by tracking, the resolution of the data to be requested maybe lowered. Approaching of a target object to the image capturingapparatus 12 can also be found by the size of a picture in a capturedimage. The example illustrated in the diagram is indicative that,because a hand has approached an image capturing apparatus, the targetof request is changed to the data (an image 310) of 1/16 size for theregion of hand so as to execute hand recognition and tracking by use ofthe changed request target.

As described above, adaptively switching between the resolution of thedata to be requested and the range on image plane by the position of atarget object and processing contents allows to restrict the amount ofthe data to be transmitted to a certain range. Further, since thesimultaneous recognition of the states of a hand and a game controllerallows the acquisition of such information in detail as the manipulationmeans of the game controller, the type of an executed manipulation, andso on, the contents of manipulation can be identified even if theconfiguration of the controller is simplified, thereby reducing themanufacture cost and power consumption.

FIG. 20 is a diagram schematically illustrating a manner in which theimage capturing environment for acquiring the data illustrated in FIG.19 is seen sideways. In the vision field of the image capturingapparatus 12, there are a human hand 320, a table 322, and an object 324placed on the table 322 such as a game controller such that theseobjects can be captured in an image 300. Further, in this diagram areference real object 326 having known shape, color, material is placedwithin the vision field. In the case of this diagram, the reference realobject 326 has a configuration in which a spherical body is mounted onrod-shaped leg but not restricted thereto.

The reference real object 326 is used to optimize such variousconversion rules that may cause errors in output parameters as aconversion table for acquiring zenith angle θ from polarization degree ρin the image capturing apparatus 12 and a code book for use invector-quantization of zenith angle θ and azimuth angle α. The referencereal object 326 is provided to the user along with a game controller,for example, thereby being placed by the user in the vision field of theimage capturing apparatus 12 at the time of operation. Alternatively,the reference real object 326 may function also as a game controller atthe same time.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart indicative of a processing procedure foroptimizing the conversion rules in the image capturing apparatus 12 byuse of the reference real object 326. First, the information processingapparatus 10 requests the image capturing apparatus 12 for a polarizedimage having a low resolution such as 1/16 size or the entire region ofa non-polarized image, for example (S40). When the data concerned comesfrom the image capturing apparatus 12 (S42), the target objectrecognizing block 80 of the information processing apparatus 10identifies a region in which the reference real object 326 from thisentire region is imaged (S44).

Then, at least for this region, such data of the parameters to beacquired by the conversion rules to be optimized as the data of thezenith angle θ acquired inside the image capturing apparatus 12 or thedata with zenith angle θ and azimuth angle α quantized are requestedwith a proper resolution (S46). If a parameter having a resolutiondifferent from the resolution of the image requested in S40 isrequested, the data of the polarized image is requested with the sameresolution. The image capturing apparatus 12 sends the requested data tothe information processing apparatus 10 (S48). At this moment,parameters are generated by use of the conversion rules set as default.

The target object recognizing block 80 of the information processingapparatus 10 compares the data of the parameters sent from the imagecapturing apparatus 12 with the data of the parameters strictly acquiredfrom the luminance of the polarized image (S50). For example, if zenithangle θ comparison is executed, the target object recognizing block 80strictly acquires the zenith angle θ from equation 3 on the basis of thepolarization degree ρ acquired from the polarized image. Further,alternatively, a phase angle that results in the maximum value or theminimum value of the polarized luminance depending on a reflection modelto be employed, as azimuth angle α. If the color or material of thereference real object 326 are known, then the reflection model to beemployed can be acquired with high precision. Since the shape is alsoknown, the zenith angle θ and the azimuth angle α can be acquired withhigh precision.

Therefore, if a different is found between these pieces of data as aresult of the comparison, then it is understood that the conversionrules used by the image capturing apparatus 12 are not proper. Forexample, if the difference in the zenith angle θ is found larger than apredetermined value, the conversion table for acquiring the zenith angleθ from the polarization degree ρ is determined not proper. If there isno difference in the zenith angle θ and there is a difference in thenormal line vector acquired from the quantization index that is largerthan a predetermined value, then the code book for quantizing the zenithangle θ and the azimuth angle α is determined not proper. At thismoment, an angle difference may be acquired for each correspondingpixels so as to use an average value thereof as the comparison result orother statistical techniques may be used. It could be understood bythose skilled in the art that there are various indexes for evaluatingdata distribution difference.

If the difference acquired as described above is found larger than apredetermined value (N of S52), then the target object recognizing block80 notifies the image capturing apparatus 12 of this determinationresult (S54). If the different is found smaller than the predeterminedvalue, the processing for optimizing the conversion rules is ended (Y ofS52). When the notification that the conversion rules are not propercomes (Y of S56), the pixel value converting block 74 of the imagecapturing apparatus 12 corrects these conversion rules (S58). Forexample, the pixel value converting block 74 holds two or moreconversion table candidates and code book candidates in an internalmemory so as to switch between the candidates to be used. Alternatively,the internal settings may be gradually changed by followingpredetermined rules.

In S54, by making the information processing apparatus 10 give anotification of trends about a direction in which the zenith angle θ hasan error, a portion of the reference real object 326 in which the normalvector has caused many errors, and so on, the direction of correctionmay be properly determined in the image capturing apparatus 12. Theimage capturing apparatus 12 computes parameters again by use of theconversion rules changed as described above and sends the computedparameters to the information processing apparatus 10 (S48). Theinformation processing apparatus 10 executes a comparison between theparameters again (S50) and, if the difference is found larger than thepredetermined value, gives a notification again (N of S52, and S54).

The image capturing apparatus 12 executes corrections on the conversionrules as long as there comes the notification from the informationprocessing apparatus 10 (Y of S56, and S58); if there is nonotification, the processing for optimizing the conversion rules isended (N of S56). Since such correction processing may require time ofsome degree, this correction processing may be executed as calibrationin the initial stage of starting a game or in the background during agame. For example, if the viewpoint changes in the case where the imagecapturing apparatus 12 is installed on a head-mounted display, theconversion rules may be adaptively switched according to the angle anddistance of the reference real object 326 relative to the viewpoint.

As described above, by making the color and maternal known, thereference real object 326 can determine a reflection model for use inacquiring normal line vectors with precision. In the same principle,properly selecting the shape, color, and material of the reference realobject 326 so as to correctly acquire normal line vectors also allowsthe correction of the conversion rules with precision. As a result, theprecision of the state recognition of such objects as the hand 320, thetable 322, and the object 324 on the table as illustrated in FIG. 20that are other than the reference real object 326 can be enhanced.

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example in the data to be sent fromthe image capturing apparatus 12 is further restricted. The illustratedexample assumes a mode in which the number of heart beats is monitoredby a captured image of a human body, thereby schematically indicatingthe shape change on the skin surface caused by pulsation. Thus, thecross sectional shape of the skin alternately repeats (a) the state inwhich an upsurge is small and (b) the state in which an upsurge islarge. Acquiring a normal lines by a polarized image allows theacquisition of the number of heart beats by the periodic variations ofthe acquired normal lines.

In the diagram, the normal line vectors are indicated by arrows.Comparison between the state of (a) and the state of (b) indicates that,while the normal line vectors present a small change in region A in theneighbor is the zenith of upsurge and surrounding region C, the normalline vectors present a large change in tilt region B in between. Suchchanges are observed by zenith angle θ. Therefore, while identifying theposition of region B from a wide-area low-resolution image, theinformation processing apparatus 10 requests for the data of the zenithangle θ of a high resolution for this region. This arrangement allowsthe minimization of the amount of transfer data and the load of theprocessing in the information processing apparatus 10, thereby realizingthe monitoring of the number of heart beats by use of a captured imagewith a low latency.

According to the present embodiment described so far, a mechanism forcomputing various parameters acquired from the luminance data of apolarized image is arranged in an image capturing apparatus so as togenerate the data of pixel lines with these parameters used as pixelvalues. Further, a mechanism for generating polarized images with two ormore resolutions and cropping a necessary region is also arranged so asto output combinations of resolutions, regions on an image, and types ofparameters without restriction. This arrangement can enhance theefficiency of the processing of recognizing the states of a targetobject in an information processing apparatus.

In addition, since the necessary data is restrictively sent inaccordance with the states of a target object on a moment-to-momentbasis, the state recognition can be executed with precision withoutinvolving an increase in the amount of data transfer. For example,computing the zenith angle and the phase angle of a normal line in theimage capturing apparatus in advance allows the information processingapparatus to use these angles so as to efficiently acquire the states ofthe target object. Capability of vector-quantizing the zenith angle andthe phase angle depending on cases and sending the vector-quantizedangles allows the sending of the optimum data in accordance with thepriority of precision and transmission data amount on a case-by-casebasis.

By making the data to be outputted by the image capturing apparatusindependently computable on a pixel basis, the results can be outputtedwithout destroying the processing form in the pixel line sequence withthe luminance data acquired by an image capturing device. As a result,the latency due to the computation inside the image capturing apparatuscan be minimized and, at the same time, the computational results can behandled in the same manner as related-art image data. Further, by use ofthe computed parameters, whether or not the reliability of normal linesof the pixel concerned and the angles of the normal lines satisfypredetermined conditions is identified and the results thereof are alsotransmitted. Referencing these items of data can enhance the efficiencyof the processing in the information processing apparatus.

At the time of transmission, the processing of generating and outputtinga virtual synthesized image with parameters of two or more typesconnected on a predetermined pixel line basis for each resolution isexecuted in the form of data streams. At this moment, connecting thedata by proper rules according to a generation rate allows therealization of the transmission with a low latency and, at the sametime, the reduction of the capacity of a memory to be installed on theimage capturing apparatus. In addition, since the data of two or moretypes each configure a rectangular region in the synthesized image, onlythe particular data can easily be cropped by general cropping processingso as to facilitate the distinction between the data also in theinformation processing apparatus by re-connecting and outputting thecropped data.

Further, by use of a reference real object with the shape, color, andmaterial thereof known, the conversion rules for acquiring variousparameters for use inside the image capturing apparatus are optimized.Consequently, a real object recognition technology that is robustagainst the change in vision field in the case where the image capturingapparatus is installed on a head-mounted display and the change in suchimage capturing environment such as brightness can be realized.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been describedusing specific terms, such description is for illustrative purpose only,and it is to be understood by those skilled in the art that changes andvariations may be made without departing from the spirit of the presentinvention.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

10 Information processing apparatus, 12 Image capturing apparatus, 16Display apparatus, 50 ISP, 52 Pyramid filter block, 56 Output timingadjusting block, 60 Cropping block, 62 Packetizing block, 64 Controlblock, 70 Luminance data acquiring block, 72 Image data generatingblock, 74 Pixel value converting block, 76 Transmission image generatingblock, 78 Communication block, 80 Target object recognizing block, 82Output data generating block, 84 Data storage block, 86 Communicationblock, 250 Computing block, 252 Transmission data forming block, 254Computing block, 256 Transmission data forming block, 264 Reliabilitydetermining circuit, 266 Zenith angle acquiring circuit, 268 Azimuthangle acquiring circuit, 274 Quantizing block, 280 Region extractingblock.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described above, the present invention is applicable to an imagecapturing apparatus, a game apparatus, an image processing apparatus, apersonal computer, a mobile terminal, and other various informationprocessing apparatuses as well as an information processing system thatincludes these apparatuses.

1. An image capturing apparatus comprising: an image data acquiringblock configured to acquire data of polarized images in a plurality ofdirections and generate data each expressed by a plurality ofresolutions; a pixel value converting block configured to acquire apredetermined parameter by use of a pixel value of said polarized imagesfor each of said plurality of resolutions and generate data that is anew pixel value; and a communication block configured to send at leastone of the generated data to an information processing apparatus.
 2. Theimage capturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said pixel valueconverting block acquires said parameter in a sequence of pixels ofpolarized images in a plurality of directions inputted in parallel andoutputs the acquired parameter; and said communication block sends dataof an image indicative of said parameter to said information processingapparatus in a sequence of inputted pixels.
 3. The image capturingapparatus according to claim 1, wherein said pixel value convertingblock acquires a parameter necessary until acquisition of a normal lineon a target object surface from the polarized images in a plurality ofdirections.
 4. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 1,wherein said pixel value converting block acquires a zenith angle and anazimuth angle of a normal line on a target object surface on a basis ofpixel values of polarized images in a plurality of directions andgenerates data with an index acquired by quantizing a combination of theacquired angles used as a pixel value.
 5. The image capturing apparatusaccording to claim 4, wherein said pixel value converting block makesdifferent a granularity that is a unit of quantization according to arange of the combination of said zenith angle and said azimuth angle. 6.The image capturing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said pixelvalue converting block makes different rules for acquiring said zenithangle of said normal line on the basis of the pixel values of saidpolarized images according to a resolution of a polarized image used forthe acquisition.
 7. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 3,wherein said pixel value converting block determines a value indicativeof a reliability of a normal line concerned on a basis of a parameter todetermine a direction of a normal line on a target object surface andincludes the determined value in data to be generated.
 8. The imagecapturing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a regionextracting block configured to crop and connect portions correspondingto regions to be sent to said information processing apparatus amongdata streams with data of polarized images indicated by said pluralityof resolutions cyclically connected for each direction of polarizationon a pixel line basis for one horizontal line of an image or smaller,thereby forming a new data stream to be inputted in said pixel valueconverting block.
 9. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 8,wherein said communication block accepts a transmission request forsending data specified with a region on an image plane from saidinformation processing apparatus; and said region extracting blockswitches between portions to be cropped from said data stream inresponse to said transmission request.
 10. The image capturing apparatusaccording to claim 8, wherein said region extracting block crops, amongsaid inputted data stream, a same portion a plurality of times accordingto setting and includes the cropped portion in a new data stream. 11.The image capturing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:a transmission image generating block configured to crop and connectportions of data to be sent to said information processing apparatusamong data streams with data of said polarized image and data of animage indicative of said parameter cyclically connected on a pixel linebasis for one horizontal line of an image or smaller, thereby forming anew data stream to be sent from said communication block.
 12. The imagecapturing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said communicationblock accepts a transmission request of data specified with a type ofdata and a region on an image plane from said information processingapparatus; and said transmission image generating block switches betweenportions to be cropped from said data stream in response to saidtransmission request.
 13. The image capturing apparatus according toclaim 12, wherein, in a virtual synthesized image with a pixel lineafter one cycle of connection being a pixel line for one horizontalline, said transmission image generating block connects pixel lines suchthat data of each image makes up a rectangular region and, in accordancewith a region specification in said synthesized image from saidinformation processing apparatus, determines a portion to be croppedfrom said data stream.
 14. The image capturing apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein, in accordance with a request from said informationprocessing apparatus, said pixel value converting block switches betweentypes of data to be outputted.
 15. The image capturing apparatusaccording to claim 8, wherein, in accordance with a request from saidinformation processing apparatus, said pixel value converting blockswitches between types of data to be outputted for each region croppedby said region extracting block.
 16. An information processing systemcomprising: an image capturing apparatus configured to capture apolarized image of a target object; and an information processingapparatus configured to acquire a state of a target object by use ofinformation acquired from a polarized image concerned and executeinformation processing based thereof, said image capturing apparatusincluding an image data acquiring block configured to acquire data ofpolarized images in a plurality of directions and generate data eachexpressed by a plurality of resolutions, a pixel value converting blockconfigured to acquire a predetermined parameter by use of a pixel valueof said polarized images for each of said plurality of resolutions andgenerate data that is a new pixel value, and a communication blockconfigured to send at least one of the generated data to an informationprocessing apparatus, said information processing apparatus including atarget object recognizing block configured to acquire a state of atarget object by use of data sent from said image capturing apparatus,and a communication block configured to specify a type in accordancewith an acquired state of a target object and a region on an image planeso as to execute a transmission request for data to said image capturingapparatus.
 17. The information processing system according to claim 16,wherein said target object recognizing block of said informationprocessing apparatus compares a parameter acquired by said pixel valueconverting block of said image capturing apparatus with a same parameteracquired by a target object recognizing block concerned by use of apixel value of said polarized image so as to determine an aptitude ofconversion rules used by said pixel value converting block for acquiringthe parameter concerned and, if said conversion rules are foundinappropriate, notifies said image capturing apparatus thereof; and apixel value converting block of said image capturing apparatus correctssaid conversion rules in accordance with the notification concerned. 18.An information processing apparatus comprising: a communication blockconfigured to acquire, from an image capturing apparatus for capturing apolarized image of a target object, requested one of data of data of apolarized image and data with a predetermined parameter acquired by useof a pixel value of a polarized image being a pixel value; a targetobject recognizing block configured to acquire a state of a targetobject by use of the acquired data; and an output data generating blockconfigured to generate output data by executing information processingon a basis of a state of said target object, wherein said communicationblock specifies a type in accordance with a state of said target objectand a region on an image plane so as to execute a transmission requestfor data to said image capturing apparatus.
 19. A polarized imageprocessing method to be executed by an image capturing apparatus, themethod comprising: acquiring data of polarized images in a plurality ofdirections by an image capturing device and to generate data eachexpressed by a plurality of resolutions; acquiring a predeterminedparameter by use of a pixel value of said polarized images for each ofsaid plurality of resolutions and to generate data that is a new pixelvalue; and sending at least one of the generated data to an informationprocessing apparatus.
 20. A computer program comprising: an image dataacquiring block configured to acquire data of polarized images in aplurality of directions and generate data each expressed by a pluralityof resolutions; a pixel value converting block configured to acquire apredetermined parameter by use of a pixel value of said polarized imagesfor each of said plurality of resolutions and generate data that is anew pixel value; and a communication block configured to send at leastone of the generated data to an information processing apparatus.